6A MCB for Lights and Fans: What It Carries and What It Costs

What is a 6 amp MCB?

A 6 amp MCB is a miniature circuit breaker rated to carry 6 amperes continuously; it trips when the current stays well above that (overload) or rises sharply (short circuit). It is the smallest rating we make and the usual choice for a lighting circuit: the run of wire that feeds the ceiling lights, tube lights and fans of one or two rooms. Its job is to protect that thin lighting wire, not the bulbs.

We make 6A single pole MCBs for the distribution board under VIYONA and for the switch board under VIZA, at our works in Marol, Andheri East, Mumbai. Not every range we make goes as low as 6A, and this page lists exactly which ones do.

Where a 6A MCB sits and what it feeds

Drawn by us, not to scale. One way in the box holds one single pole MCB; the 6A way feeds only lights and fans.

6 amp MCB load capacity in watts

At the 230 V of an Indian home supply, a 6A MCB carries 6 A × 230 V = 1,380 W. That is the most it is rated to carry continuously, not the load to plan for. Under IS/IEC 60898-1 an MCB does not trip below 1.13 times its rating and must trip within an hour above 1.45 times, so a small overload can run a long time before it trips.

The common working rule is to load a circuit to about 80% of the MCB rating, which for 6A is about 4.8 A or 1,100 W of steady load. For a lighting circuit that is a great deal: modern LED lighting rarely comes near it.

Our MCB size calculation guide shows the same arithmetic for every rating, from 6A to 63A.

What can a 6A MCB run?

Think of a 6A MCB as the breaker for things that light up or turn slowly. Typical steady draws, as printed on common products:

• LED bulb 9 W to LED tube 20 W
• Ceiling fan ~75 W, less for a BLDC fan
• Exhaust fan ~40 W
• Night lamp under 1 W

A worked example: a 2BHK lighting circuit with 16 LED bulbs of 9 W (144 W), four LED tubes of 20 W (80 W) and four fans of 75 W (300 W) comes to about 524 W, well under half of the 1,100 W working figure. That headroom is why one 6A circuit can usually cover two rooms of lights and fans.

Which wire goes with a 6A MCB?

The MCB exists to protect the wire, so the wire must carry at least 6A all day. Our catalogue prints the current each size of house wire carries, for two cables of a single phase circuit:

• 1.0 sq mm: 11 A in conduit, 12 A clipped to a surface; older wiring only
• 1.5 sq mm: 13 A in conduit, 16 A clipped: the size to use
• 0.75 sq mm: no rating printed in that table; keep it for flexible cords, not fixed circuits

1.5 sq mm is the size we recommend for a 6A lighting circuit, and the minimum we recommend for any fixed house wiring. 1.0 sq mm (11 A in our table) is found in older wiring but is below today’s minimum for fixed circuits. Wiring every light circuit in 1.5 sq mm also means the same wire can later take a 10A breaker if a room is reworked.

Single-core house wire must run in conduit or casing, never clipped bare to a wall.

The wire we sell, made for us by a partner, comes in 45 m and 90 m coils: 1.0 sq mm (code 651) is ₹1,002 and ₹1,840, and 1.5 sq mm (652) is ₹1,450 and ₹2,740 (catalogue rate). The full list is on our house wire price list and the electrical wire product page.

Our 6A MCBs: codes and MRPs

Several of our codes cover a span of ratings, from 6A to 32A, at one price. You order the code and name the rating. These are the ones that include 6A:

The VIYONA 401 is the distribution board breaker, part of our VIYONA 10 kA range made to IS/IEC 60898-1 under licence CM/L-2544151. The VIZA V401 (1 module) and V1301 are Tiny Trip breakers for a modular switch board, and VIYONA 133 sits with our kit kat fuses.

6A or 10A for a lighting circuit?

Both are used. A 6A breaker gives the thinnest lighting wire the tightest protection and trips sooner on a fault in a fitting. A 10A breaker suits a lighting circuit that also carries a few 6A sockets for phone chargers or a table lamp, or a long run with many LED drivers whose combined switch-on burst can nuisance-trip a 6A breaker.

The trip curve matters here too. Most home breakers are B or C curve, and our B curve vs C curve guide explains how the curve, not the rating, decides whether a burst of inrush current trips the breaker.

If a 6A lighting MCB trips only at switch-on, the fix is a different curve or splitting the circuit, not a bigger rating on the same wire. When the circuit genuinely needs more, read our 10 amp MCB page first.

A 6A Tiny Trip in the switch board

A 6A breaker is not only for the DB. Our VIZA V401 and VIZA V1301 are 6A to 32A single pole Tiny Trips that fit a modular plate like a switch. At 6A they make sense for a single light-duty point you want to cut and protect locally: a chandelier on a long drop, a decorative light strip in a shop, or a sign board that someone switches off at night.

The local breaker should be rated below the DB breaker on that circuit, or the DB breaker may trip first. Our MCB in switch board guide and the Tiny Trip MCB page cover the fitting.

How many 6A MCBs does a home need?

One per lighting zone. A 1BHK often has one lighting circuit, a 2BHK two, and a 3BHK two or three, so a fault in one bedroom does not plunge the whole flat into darkness. Bathrooms with an exhaust fan and a mirror light can share a lighting circuit with the bedroom next to them.

Each single pole MCB takes one way in the box. Two lighting MCBs, two socket MCBs and separate breakers for the AC, geyser and kitchen add up fast. Size the box as outgoing circuits + 2 ways for a DP main + 2 for an RCCB + 2 spare, and check whether the box’s printed way count includes the main. A typical 2BHK has 8 to 10 outgoing circuits, so 12 to 16 ways. Our SPN MCB box page sizes the box and our MCB for home guide lists a rating for every circuit.

6 amp MCB price and how it is packed

The lowest MRP for a 6A breaker in our range is ₹145 for the VIYONA 401, packed 12 per box. A box of twelve comes to ₹1,740 at MRP. The VIZA V401 Tiny Trip is ₹230, also 12 per box, and VIYONA 133 is ₹150, 10 per box.

We sell in full boxes only, not single pieces, through our dealers. A homeowner buying one or two breakers buys them from a dealer who holds the box. Every MCB we make is priced in our MCB price list, and our VIYONA MCB range page has the photos.

Mistakes people make with a 6A MCB

Most trouble at this rating comes from asking a lighting breaker to do a socket’s job, or from “fixing” a trip the wrong way. The ones we hear about most from electricians and dealers:

• 6A on a geyser or heater: a 2,000 W geyser draws about 8.7 A, enough to trip it, though at that overload it can take up to an hour while the wire runs hot.
• Sockets on the light circuit: one 6A socket for a charger is fine; an iron plugged into it is not.
• Ordering a 6A DP Tiny Trip: VIZA V402 and V1302 start at 10A, so the order comes back wrong.
• Expecting shock protection: an MCB trips on overload and short circuit, not on a small leak to earth.

The last point is the one that matters for safety. Leakage through a person is far below 6A, so a lighting breaker never sees it; that is the job of an RCCB in the main board, explained in our RCCB vs ELCB guide. A 6A breaker that is correctly sized protects the wire. Keeping people safe needs the RCCB as well.

Where we supply

Everything on this page is made at our works in Marol, Andheri East, Mumbai, and sold through dealers across Maharashtra and in many other states. See where we supply in Maharashtra and how we supply the rest of India. Orders placed through our office are delivered all over India, in full boxes only.