I've moved into a house, and am fitting a series of 5 halogen downlights beneath a shelving unit. The wall on which I am fitting it previously had an uplighter. I removed this so now have exposed live, neutral and (unsheathed) earth wires on the wall. This is already operated by a light switch on another wall.
The new lights I have come with a fitted fused (3 amp) plug. The instructions say if it is installed directly on a lighting circuit it will need a 5 amp fuse.
So – if I want to wire it directly, can I assume the lighting circuit is adequately protected since it already had a light fixture (is this standard?), or for this fitting do I need to install an (unswitched) fused spur or something similar to add the 5 amp protection?
To clarify, the 5 halogen lights are wired into one fitting with a transformer leading to one plug.
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If the manufacturer says they need a fuse, then I'd probably install a fuse. Just install a 5A fuse before the transformer, and make sure it's accessible in some way.
The light circuit is probably on a fuse/breaker at the service panel, but since you are using a transformer to step down to low voltage a fuse may be required to protect the transformer and low voltage wiring. The fuse/breaker in the main panel will probably be 15-20A; since it's designed to protect a normal line voltage lighting circuit, so you'll need another 5A fuse before the step down transformer to protect the transformer and everything downstream from it.