Ask an Electrician anything...

[AW10]

RichB said:

switch isn't the issue. It's getting the power to the lamp fitting. There's no access behind the position on the wall. It doesn't come through to the room behind, there's a cavity there with a soil pipe enclosed in it. Hence why I think it needs to run on the exterior of the house.

Perhaps we’re at cross purposes but run the cable up into the loft and put the remote controlled switch in the loft? But if a physical switch at ground level is a requirement run it in black 20mm conduit tucked in alongside the downpipe.

Edited by AW10 on Sunday 28th May 01:51

[dhutch]

RichB said:

I want to place an outside lamp on the corner under the wisteria. The only way to get power down is from through the soffit from a socket in the loft. I could use a RCB plug in the loft and obviously a suitable outside switch IP66 rated. But, is there a particular type of cable I should use? I aim to hide the wire behind the downpipe.

H07RN-F

[Regbuser]

ruggedscotty said:

swa then

It's all very well advising SWA, but then the cable requires a CW gland, 20mm minimum.
This may throw up a problem if the light fitting is only supplied with a 16mm or so stuffing gland and entry.
Then you have the problem of cable bend radius for SWA, and the mechanical load that can place on a domestic type of luminaire.

[AW10]

or a quinetiq switch https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/QUWS1B.html

[essayer]

dhutch said:

H07RN-F

I was looking for black cable to use outside (not SWA) and I could see rubber versions of this, but conflicting ideas as to whether it could be used outside or not (UV protection etc).. anyone have thoughts? Prefer to avoid conduit

[Regbuser]

essayer said:

I was looking for black cable to use outside (not SWA) and I could see rubber versions of this, but conflicting ideas as to whether it could be used outside or not (UV protection etc).. anyone have thoughts? Prefer to avoid conduit

HO7 / TRS is chloroprene rubber, and is UV and chemical resistant. It is suitable for installation outside. It has medium mechanical strength, but if mechanical damage is foreseen, then protection in conduit or channel (unistrut) is required.

Alternatively, TQ, or ship's cable (old BS6883), with a steel braid, may be installed, but requires appropriate glanding and termination.

[OutInTheShed]

dhutch said:

RichB said:

I want to place an outside lamp on the corner under the wisteria. The only way to get power down is from through the soffit from a socket in the loft. I could use a RCB plug in the loft and obviously a suitable outside switch IP66 rated. But, is there a particular type of cable I should use? I aim to hide the wire behind the downpipe.

H07RN-F

You could use a 12V LED light, then risks from cable damage are trivial.
If you keep the cable out of full sun behind the downpipe, any cable will last several years at least.

[RichB]

AW10 said:

RichB said:

switch isn't the issue. It's getting the power to the lamp fitting. There's no access behind the position on the wall. It doesn't come through to the room behind, there's a cavity there with a soil pipe enclosed in it. Hence why I think it needs to run on the exterior of the house.

Perhaps we’re at cross purposes but run the cable up into the loft and put the remote controlled switch in the loft? But if a physical switch at ground level is a requirement run it in black 20mm conduit tucked in alongside the downpipe.

Ah ha, I see what you mean, but I've still got to somehow get 230v to the lamp without access from behind.

Edited by RichB on Sunday 28th May 17:31

[Jakg]

ruggedscotty said:

RichB said:

AW10 said:

Wifi controlled switch via phone app, Alexa, etc.

switch isn't the issue. It's getting the power to the lamp fitting. There's no access behind the position on the wall. It doesn't come through to the room behind, there's a cavity there with a soil pipe enclosed in it. Hence why I think it needs to run on the exterior of the house.

swa then

Not an electrician, but... isn't SWA total overkill for this, assuming it's clipped down an external wall out of the way of everything?

I've used 3183P pond cable for my outside lights.

[AW10]

down through the soffit board? access from within the loft is usually a bit of a challenge but have done this several times in the past. drill a hole from below/outside and then feed a section of coat hanger wire through with the cable taped to it.

[RichB]

AW10 said:

... access from within the loft is usually a bit of a challenge...

There's a security light/floodlight on the soffit directly up above so I can feed through some existing holes...

[Anastie]

Hi, I'm after some advice before I phone the electrician and sound like a fool!

We had a garden room installed last year with electrics. I plugged an extension lead into one of the sockets in the room to run an electric outdoor grill on the patio. The socket MCB is rated 16 amp to support an electric heater or portable aircon unit in the future. Therefore I had no worries plugging a 2,800W grill in.

Straight away I could hear a buzzing noise starting and stopping coming from the garden room consumer unit. A bit of googling suggests the MCB could be faulty. When I unplugged the grill the prongs on the plug were very hot to touch. As a test I plugged a 1500W (the highest rated I had) into a socket in the garden room and no buzzing

I unplugged the grill and ran the extension lead from the house socket to be safe.

Could it be a faulty MCB or could it be my extension lead?

Advice is appreciated before I call the electrician out to look

[silentbrown]

Hot plug pins means a poor connection between/inside the plug and/or socket but that's unlikely to explain noise from the MCB.

Obv. , make sure extension lead current rating is good and that you've fully unwound it to prevent heat build-up.

[Anastie]

silentbrown said:

Hot plug pins means a poor connection between/inside the plug and/or socket but that's unlikely to explain noise from the MCB.

Obv. , make sure extension lead current rating is good and that you've fully unwound it to prevent heat build-up.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, extension rated correctly and fully unwound.

[dhutch]

silentbrown said:

Hot plug pins means a poor connection between/inside the plug and/or socket but that's unlikely to explain noise from the MCB.

Not a spark, but I agree.

Often extension leads get abused, pulled, wet, dirty, left outside so it could well be it didn't make great contact. Equally with time pulling 3kw out of a 13A plug and socket will warm it, the fuse alone will heat the live pin especially. Really quite warm is ok. Burning hot not so good.

Buzzing MCB sounds like it could be faulty but I have no real experience with that.

[dhutch]

Jakg said:

Not an electrician, but... isn't SWA total overkill for this, assuming it's clipped down an external wall out of the way of everything?

I've used 3183P pond cable for my outside lights.

Ditto. Plus as said, very real issues routing/bending/terminating SWA as well.

In reality, any old black pvc flex is going to outlast most things.

[ruggedscotty]

Regbuser said:

ruggedscotty said:

swa then

It's all very well advising SWA, but then the cable requires a CW gland, 20mm minimum.
This may throw up a problem if the light fitting is only supplied with a 16mm or so stuffing gland and entry.
Then you have the problem of cable bend radius for SWA, and the mechanical load that can place on a domestic type of luminaire.

simple solution then - get an approved spark in to do the job. Job jobbed.

If the light fitting did not have the right sized hole then you would either get an adaptor or replace the fitting with one that did, or have a junction box and short length of joining flex (IP UV and outdoor rated between junction box and fitting....)

Mechanical load on a domestic type luminaire ? Surely you would pick a fitting that was suitable for the task ?

[ruggedscotty]

https://uk.prysmiangroup.com/media/news/everything...

https://www.yifangcable.com/what-makes-electrical-...

There is a lot out there on ti net giving advice.

How it should be done often differs from how it is done, and some argue whas the difference....


Well if you ask whats the difference, maybe ask yourself if you should be even doing the task.

Cable should be weather proof, and resistant to UV. It should be mechanically protected for damage from activity in the area it is installed.
Flaura and Fauna etc.

Cable needs to be properly fixed and secured.

And as its up a wall id be looking to make sure that its done in such a way that once its on it doent need any futher maintenance. I wouldnt be using other structures such as drain pipes to lash it on to or to support it.

And id try to make it as easy as I could. You can get remote switches that dont need connecting between the switch and the fitting. so that would limit the need to run a cable up the wall. pop a cable out to the light from the attic, through your controller. Have the switch down where you want it.

controlled through a wifi network with mobile...

controlled through the mains wiring to a connected switch...

There are options. depends on exactly how you want it to be achieved.

[RichB]

ruggedscotty said:

<clip> id try to make it as easy as I could. You can get remote switches that dont need connecting between the switch and the fitting. so that would limit the need to run a cable up the wall.

How would you power the lamp because that will be about 2.5m above ground level? A remote switch doesn't negate the need to get power to the lamp/lantern. And when I said behind the downpipe I meant discretely clipped to the wall close by, not zip tied the pipe

[Regbuser]

ruggedscotty said:

simple solution then - get an approved spark in to do the job. Job jobbed.

This is true.

However, this thread seems to be driven by enthusiastic amateurs, who'd like to do the right thing (mostly).

They might not want to spend £20 extra on a robust metal bodied luminaire that can accept a more robust cabling solution.
They might buy a cheap unit that comes with a metre of 0.5 flex moulded on, then wonder how they can chocolate block it up to a socket and flying lead out of a window ..