Colour flagging of wires

I didn't word that properly, did I? I didn't mean to use the phrase "a none mixed scheme" in there. What I meant was, even in an installation which uses the new harmonised colours, you can also use red to distinguish your switched live conductors. So giving Brown as the supply. Red as the switched live to the appliance and Blue as the neutral conductors.

Is that clearer? Let me read through that again. Yeah. That makes more sense.

(Note to self: (Must put brain in gear before typing what comes into head for the split second before fingers move across keyboard.)) lol

In article , ARWadsworth scribeth thus

Its a pity for things like switched live cables there couldn't have been a Brown/Red or some other colour stripe..

Like Green/Yellow..

So Brown is a live then the stripe signifies something you do with it//..

White sleeve and indelible marking pens.

Jolly good. It is what made sense to me, and is what I do, but it did occur to me that there might be alternative options.

Its not in the switch where it matters particularly, but in the ceiling rose. Just think of how many times you have read here posts that start out something like: "I took down the old light and now I have all these wires and I don't know what to do with them"

FFS don't confuse us any more. :-) LOL

Accepted! Although it only helps with one cable out of perhaps 3 or 4 at a rose.

As long as the switched supply is marked, I think it is easier to find out what the other wires do.

There was a T&E with both colours red for switch drops. Not seen a brown version.

Twin brown

BigWallop coughed up some electrons that declared:

You tell him - I've passed my exams and I'll never see him again.

Personally, I think it's not much help from a safety POV as we're all taught now that neutral is live (ie potentially dangerous).

It's useful in lighting though, to see the intent that a black or blue wire is supposed to be a phase (or line). Problem is, half the time you take a rose or light switch to bits, the sleeves fall off anyway...

Cheers

Tim

Hi Adam,

ARWadsworth coughed up some electrons that declared:

Well... I haven't honestly decided. A lot of the lighting circuits are likely to be 2-way 'cos of the layout of the house and some may be 3 or 4 gang, so it might get messy having say upto 7-9 cables coming into a double plate.

Ceiling rose bases are OK for pendant drops but, IMLE not very good when SWMBO wants a euro-made lamp (IKEA *cough*) with no room to fit over a rose, so that's probably killed loop-in loop-out, unless one uses junction boxes over the light drop [see end]

To be honest, I'm strongly considering to put each room into a junction box (DIN box and DIN terminals, not lots of round jobbies) and star out from there. There's an accessible roof void at the end of each room, so I'd stick them there with a loop round for the supply.

BTW - I'm trying these out as TLC have a special offer:

One DP pull switch by front door (not very Part-L, one switch for the house ;->

The whole lot will be linked with T+E cable-clipped to face of ceilings because it's out of the way of all the holes I'm cutting into the walls and means all temporary circuits are visible, not buried.

This seemed the cheapest and quickest way for a lash up while I'm getting all the proper electrics in...

The TLC widget will make it easy to yank one lamp feed if I'm working on the ceiling in that area - and well, I was curious.

Cheers

Tim

Exactly. I now always tape the outer of the cable containing the switch live before I touch anything else.

The Medway Handyman coughed up some electrons that declared:

Word of warning Dave: as they have screw terminals, they must remain "accessible" so the terminals can be maintained, in the same way that other junction boxes must (*cough*).

I noticed someone is starting to pedal some junction boxes with spring terminals and claiming that they can be hidden and remain reliable.

Cheers

Tim

Rod coughed up some electrons that declared:

That's one - saw another make down another wholesalers, but the manufacturer escapes me.

Cheers

Tim

Does not make total sense to me - because I have been using brown and blue sleeving when making good cable in old colours :-((

Is this likely to be more a matter of good practice (attracting at most a code 4) rather than a breach of a specific reg? I ask in part because it seems to me a bit odd to expect everyone working in the field to carry red sleeving for years to come - perhaps 30+ years.

I tell ya' Robin. If they make me carry any more bloody over sleeving, I won't have any room in the box for tools. No joke. :-)

The new colour scheme is acceptable everywhere, without any comeback, as long as it is correctly identifying what it should be, of course.