LED light fittings

[alan_m]

Today I have taken delivery of a fairly cheap panel light fitting. It is around 30cm in diameter. The construction is plastic with no accessible metal parts. The electrical connection is via a 100mm stub of two core wire BUT with just about enough clearance between the ceiling and the light fitting to use a very small 2/3 way chock block or a few inline waggo 221 connectors.

I don't have a problem with this as the ceiling rose that was once fitted has been replaced with a junction box in the loft and I only have a one length of wire coming through the (bedroom) ceiling.

I do wonder how the average DIYer would cope with fitting this type of light fitting and what bodgery would be attempted when they found out that there was no space for a ceiling rose AND no space to replace ceiling rose connections with alternatives on the underside of the ceiling.

[Tricky Dicky]

Connecting with a choc block or even Wagos alone is not permitted. Connections have to be double insulated which means that the choc block or Wagos need to be inside an enclosure. The cables entering the enclosure must maintain double insulation so single conductors visible are a no, no.

In your case if your connection on the light fitting is not long enough to reach the junction box you will have to use a second enclosure and enlarge the the ceiling hole to push it into the void unless you have access from above.

There are plenty of videos on You Tube how to do it correctly.

[Jeff Layman]

Would a soldered connection with double sleeving be permitted?

[alan_m]

Heat shrink over the wago?

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[Jeff Gaines]

In my case it was an LED strip light, no ceiling rose and a tail of 5 Amp flex sticking out. Very limited room for the flex to run between the light and the ceiling so it makes the light a bit wonky. At some point I will put spacers under the clips so there is room for the flex and a gap between the fitting and the ceiling.

[Theo]

I bought some own-brand LED strips from CPC. They have an inlet connector on them with a 1m cable that terminates in two wires (with ferrules). They have a mains output so can also be daisy chained together with another supplied cable, which is about 20cm.

There are no longer cables available, and the connectors are proprietary. When I wanted to daisy chain them at a more sensible spacing, I had to cut off the end of the daisy chain cable, add a junction box, and join on to the inlet cable from the next light.

Looks awful. Still, they were cheap. Luckily this was just for the garage and the loft, so I wasn't too fussy.

Theo

[alan_m]

That's a possibility with my light - the bracket that fixes to the ceiling could be spaced off to give more room. I have some small plastic boxes that are designed for cable joining.

[The Natural Philosopher]

You remove the rose, connect to the wires, and push the connector back into the ceiling, of course...

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[David Wade]

Oddly when I came to change my fire alarms they were fitted like that...

Dave

[alan_m]

As I have mentioned before, shortly after my mother purchased a house I found that the previous owner had removed the ceiling rose, twisted wires together to make the connections, insulated with a couple of turns of Sellotape and pushed the whole lot through the hole in the ceiling :(

To make matters worse the whole house was wired with zero slack anywhere.

[Owain Lastname]

In the past I've used MDF circles as mounting plinths and to give space for the wagos.

Owain