Electrical Lighting Problem

[Rob Gilchrist]

Hi I recently moved house and at the weekend I pulled down an old lean-to outside the kitchen. The lean-to had a light fitting and was connected by 2 x 1sq mm PVC twin core cables. As part of the tidy up, I turned off the electricity and cut the cables. Now I no longer have lights in the ground floor of the house, I have taped up the cables so they are not exposed and checked the fusebox and all fuses are OK.

Am I right in assuming one of the cables is the main circuit and the other is the cable to the light switch?

I am happy to get an electrician out, but first wanted to check that I wasn't missing something, that could fix the problem easily.

Cheers Rob

[Bob Eager]

Probably not. The common arrangement is that power feed runs to every light fitting. The switch cable then drops from the ceiling rose to the switch.

The two cables you cut were probably power 'in' (ultimately from the consumer unit), and power 'out' (to the rest of the light fittings).

Did the lean-to have a cable coming from its light fitting to the switch?

[Lurch]

On 23 Feb 2005 01:53:13 -0800, [e-mail] (Rob Gilchrist) strung together this:

Chances are that one of the cables was the 'mains loop in' from the CU and the other was the 'mains loop out' to the rest of the lights in the house. If it is then there should have been a third wire going to the switch. Was there a switch in the lean to?

If it's anything less than straightforward, i.e. as above, then you might be better off calling an electrician, should be a 10 minute job for a pro!

[Jim Backus]

Strange who lurks here!

[Bob Eager]

Indeed - but at least *i* am on the 'right' continent!

[Jim Backus]

Why do you think I'm not? I live on the Herts / Essex borders. I had an exchange with a German recently who also thought I was American - both on usenet so I'm wondering if something is set up incorrectly.

[Brian Sharrock]

You're "set up" utilises character set 'us-ascii'. This may, or may not, be incorrect. Your choice.

[Bob Eager]

I just always thought you were...probably the .com domain! Oh well....I'm not far away, in Kent...!

[zymurgy]

Hmm, almost as worrying as when the double glazing fitters plugged their 110V transformer into my (seldom used) double socket in the hall a couple of days ago.

'trip' went the 6A MCB on the lighting circuit :-0000

Time for a little urgent detective work I think ...

P.

[Jim Backus]

Thanks - I'll look into that. I use an Australian keyboard which does not have a Pound symbol - that may be the reason.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The 'pound' symbol isn't an approved Newsgroup character - it may, or may not - appear correctly. Use GBP to denote the UK currency.