Over/under cabinet lighting. Trying not to electricute myself.

Kristoph · 7 Jul 2019 at 09:15

Hi all,

I'm looking to put some lighting in either above or under my cabinets. Above the cabinets either side of my cooker I have the following wiring:

I have a third light switch in the kitchen that does nothing, and I'm assuming this is the cabling it relates to.

A) any way of finding out where this is controlled from? I'm assuming the third light switch.

B) I'd like LED strip lighting but not sure the best way to drop down to low voltages from this.

Any advice?

Thanks!

RJC · 7 Jul 2019 at 09:22

Do you have a multimeter to hand?

You need to check to see if the cable is live, also if this is from the light switch have they bridged the live from another circuit?, otherwise when you turn the light switch on you would have big bang as one the one the neutrals would have been a switched live.

To drop the voltage down you will need a LED controller which would come with the LED strip or purchase separately.

Kristoph · 7 Jul 2019 at 09:28

RJC said:
Do you have a multimeter to hand?

You need to check to see if the cable is live, also if this is from the light switch have they bridged the live from another circuit?, otherwise when you turn the light switch on you would have big bang as one the one the neutrals would have been a switched live.

To drop the voltage down you will need a LED controller which would come with the LED strip or purchase separately.

Thanks for the quick response. I don't have a multimeter but I'll borrow one from work tomorrow. This fitting is on a new build so I'm hoping it's wired safely. But then again, I can't assume.

rexehuk · 7 Jul 2019 at 10:50

I'd put money on that being a connection on a ring main, maybe someone thought ahead and left a connection there for kitchen lights etc.

LuckyBenski · 7 Jul 2019 at 13:51

I expect the two pairs of L/N here are 1)coming from the switch and 2)Going on to the second cabinet. What's in the second cabinet? Is there a third point the wires might emerge?

Assumptions are bad though so get that multimeter. Also though - you may consider it overkill but I turn off the entire ring/circuit at the distribution box when working. I then go and meter the circuit anyway.

Don't forget to turn your meter to AC! I sometimes forget this first time, as I mostly work on low voltage DC.