Wiring a ceiling light with conductive tape

lightingwiring

I'm wondering what's the downside to running conductive tape up the wall and across the ceiling to install a light fixture in the middle of my ceiling?

I feel like it's going to be less efficient, electricity wise, but I don't have a ceiling light right now and I saw a cafe in Berlin do this and I thought the copper up the wall effect was cool.

I'd probably just link up the end to a normal plug put that into a smart plug to control it from my phone.

Thanks!

Best Answer

The only way that's going to work (and all these are true there in Germany) is if

  • the tape is fairly thick, because
  • the circuit is low voltage
  • the circuit has careful overcurrent protection on it
  • the circuit has arc-fault protection on it (which isn't terribly hard on DC and static DC loads like resistor limited LED lighting)
  • The copper tape is only installed where out of reach of poking fingers or damage from normal activity.

Have you checked each of the electrical sockets in your room? It is common (especially in the US) for 1/2 of one receptacle (i.e. one socket of the two) to be swiched by the room's light switch. This is done because it's about $30 cheaper in labor, x 3-4 rooms per house, x 2000 houses per development. It is despicable and useless. We usually go off to IKEA and get a simple $15 corner lamp to plug into that.

Another option is to use a product like Legrand Wiremold (tm) to run surface conduit from that switched receptacle up the side of the wall. Then you can either extend it to a room light, or to around-the-edge cove lighting, or to that copper system you propose.

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