Is there an electrician in the house?

Adam_151 · 20 Mar 2006 at 20:23

Trigger said:
Most lighting circuits over here are wired as radial now though and terminates at the final lighting point instead of the CU and IIRC it's only larger installations which have lighting rings.

No such thing as a lighting ring, larger installations most likey have larger radials for lighst than a home would (15A is quite common)

Onl'y downside to radial circuits though is you can't run spurs of them whereas with a ring final, you can

You can do the same thing, its just called a branched radial though, a branched radial however can be confusing to test

Trigger · 20 Mar 2006 at 20:27

Adam_151 said:
No such thing as a lighting ring, larger installations most likey have larger radials for lighst than a home would (15A is quite common)

Yes there is, we have one in our house which was done when it was built

Sputnik II · 20 Mar 2006 at 20:28

Mickey_D said:
In the US, there's one trio of wires that goes from the breaker box into the wall. It then comes across say a wall outlet. It is connected to the wall outlet, then the next segment of the same circuit is connected at the same spot. It then goes on to the next junction box (in this example) which happens to be a light switch. It is paralleled at the switch to continue on to the next wall socket. Only the switched live and the neutral are continued up to the actual light fixture itself.

Actually, The old system in the UK used to be like that in the days of single core rubber and cotton covered cables in steel conduit. Since the Introduction of PVC twin and earth we went to ring circuits, Switch connections are simply dropped from the ceiling rose to the switch with a single piece of twin and earth(for normal switching).
Off topic do you have an electric kettle

Mickey_D · 21 Mar 2006 at 08:11

Sputnik II said:
Off topic do you have an electric kettle

Nope, I've got one that you fill with water and set on the stove. I like my tea the old fashioned way.

Snash · 21 Mar 2006 at 13:46

http://www.diynot.com/forums/ is where you want to be.

Trigger · 21 Mar 2006 at 17:43

Sputnik II said:
, Switch connections are simply dropped from the ceiling rose to the switch with a single piece of twin and earth(for normal switching).

No they're not- it's more common in the UK to use a loop-in system so all the constant live and the switched live all come in to the light fitting. Junction boxes above the celing are only used when accessibility is easy but it's normally more economical anyway to just use loop-in as it saves buying a junction box and the cost of the junction box equates to more than the extra cable

Sputnik II · 21 Mar 2006 at 18:42

Trigger said:
No they're not- it's more common in the UK to use a loop-in system so all the constant live and the switched live all come in to the light fitting. Junction boxes above the celing are only used when accessibility is easy but it's normally more economical anyway to just use loop-in as it saves buying a junction box and the cost of the junction box equates to more than the extra cable

Yes they ARE! As per in this pic.

wandgrudd · 21 Mar 2006 at 18:48

Trigger said:
Yes there is, we have one in our house which was done when it was built

We also have a lighting ring in our house as well uncommon yes but they do exist.
Never seen one any where else but it all tests out ok so I never bothered to remove it.

Trigger · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:13

Sputnik II said:
Yes they ARE! As per in this pic.

Sputnik II said:
single piece of twin and earth(for normal switching).

Err... ..you've just proved yourself wrong- there are 3 sets of twin and earth coming in from the celing which is what I've just said

wandgrudd said:
We also have a lighting ring in our house as well uncommon yes but they do exist.
Never seen one any where else but it all tests out ok so I never bothered to remove it.

Yeah, ours is fine as well so it got left in

Sputnik II · 21 Mar 2006 at 19:23

Trigger said:
Err... ..you've just proved yourself wrong- there are 3 sets of twin and earth coming in from the celing which is what I've just said

Actually, I proved myself to be right

What I originally said was - "Switch connections are simply dropped from the ceiling rose to the switch with a single piece of twin and earth(for normal switching)." and thats what you quoted me on, I didn't say there was only one piece of Twin and Earth.

I do like the way you have cropped what I said in the original quote to make it mean something else, you could be a prime minister with skills like that.

I was probably wiring up houses when you were still peeing in your pants

wolvotim · 21 Mar 2006 at 23:20

Sputnik II said:
Actually, I proved myself to be right

What I originally said was - "Switch connections are simply dropped from the ceiling rose to the switch with a single piece of twin and earth(for normal switching)." and thats what you quoted me on, I didn't say there was only one piece of Twin and Earth.

I do like the way you have cropped what I said in the original quote to make it mean something else, you could be a prime minister with skills like that.

I was probably wiring up houses when you were still peeing in your pants

lol I noticed that too

Trigger · 21 Mar 2006 at 23:26

wolvotim said:
lol I noticed that too

Err how does it change the meaning exactly? I just cropped it down to highlight the bit I was talking about instead of quoting the whole phrase

I think I got the wrong end of the stick slightly and took what you were saying to mean that there is only one wire coming into the ceiling so I appologise for that

Sputnik II said:
I was probably wiring up houses when you were still peeing in your pants

And what is that supposed to mean exactly?

wolvotim · 21 Mar 2006 at 23:33

missing out the "Switch connections are simply dropped from the ceiling rose to the switch with a" made all the differance in your reply which was Err... ..you've just proved yourself wrong- there are 3 sets of twin and earth coming in from the celing which is what I've just said

Trigger · 21 Mar 2006 at 23:38

wolvotim said:
missing out the "Switch connections are simply dropped from the ceiling rose to the switch with a" made all the differance in your reply which was Err... ..you've just proved yourself wrong- there are 3 sets of twin and earth coming in from the celing which is what I've just said

Yeah, but I assumed that 'switch connections' were meant as the wires terminated at the light fitting as I've heard them referred to as lots of things so in that context, the rest of the quote wasn't needed which is why I removed it but like I said, I'm sorry for any misunderstanding

wolvotim · 21 Mar 2006 at 23:43

no probs mate

Slackworth · 22 Mar 2006 at 00:22

Luke284 said:
three phase is only used to get into the house, only one phase is actually used within the house. only big industrial building have three phase supply to power the heavy duty stuff

Can't beat a nice 415V 3 Phase supply. Bit of a surprise if you get zapped though. :eek:

Sputnik II · 22 Mar 2006 at 00:38

adwhitworth said:
Can't beat a nice 415V 3 Phase supply. Bit of a surprise if you get zapped though.

Its not anymore dangerous than 240 Volts provided you don't touch two of the phases at the same time. Having said that I wouldn't want to do it in a large building where it enters at 11 or 33 Kvolts.

Mickey_D · 22 Mar 2006 at 07:22

Sputnik II said:
Its not anymore dangerous than 240 Volts provided you don't touch two of the phases at the same time. Having said that I wouldn't want to do it in a large building where it enters at 11 or 33 Kvolts.

I've been whacked by 10KV before. It was also at microwave frequencies. Wasn't pleasant, let me tell you.