More electrical bad work

Live wire to neutral terminal and vice-versa (not that a bulb cares)

Earth wire not connected to earth terminal

No grommet where T&E passes through metal knockout

given how much slack T&E there is, the chock-block and 3" of wire (not even flex) is quite pointless

Well at least the earth wire is sleeved!

Would that typically come in from the right (against the raised bit) and be wrapped clockwise, or just tucked under the same if the flex was fitted with a ferrule?

I don't think that is a 'knockout' as such is it as it looks like it has a rolled or rounded edge. If it does have a formed edge, does it still have to have a grommet (genuine question)?

I'd agree with that as well.

Cheers, T i m

Yeah, making absolutely sure there is no way it could come into contact with the "must be earthed" metalwork of the fitting ;-)

It's an ES fitting!

Given that its a ceramic holder its probably designed for a hot situation in which case the T&E shouldn't go there at all and heat resistant cables should be used. On the other hand its only a CFL.

I wonder what wattage its rated at and how hot it gets when someone fits a tungsten bulb?

Well spotted - though on that type of fitting, it probably doesn't matter - compared to say an ES older style.

That was the first one I saw...

Debatable? The metal looks like it is turned over for a smooth edge. But it never does any harm to have a grommet

That didn't even occur to me - but now you've said it, yes: why the choc block???

It is? Oh - OK, then yes - I retract the bit about L+N not mattering too much.

And that CFL was shagged. It's now 9W LED. The old CFL gave 4 lux at the wash hand basin (girls toilet) after 60 seconds. The new LED gives 74 lux at the same position instantly.

The problem with that is anyone can come along and put a 60W bulb in, there is nothing to stop them.

It would be better to have a dedicated fitting without a bulb. Maybe a small 12v LED panel?

Why does it matter?

Because you don't want the large area of screw-cap to be live and the small end contact to be neutral, if someone's changing a lamp with it switched on.

Well the fitting is rated 60W so it does not matter if a 60W lamp is fitted.

I would say no grommet needed. If fact you would not get one to fit the rounded hole.

There's nothing to stop anyone putting a 100W bulb in either, or even a

At some point, you need to label things - and a label that says "

Have you ever looked at an ES bulb and its holder. If not, if you have one, please take a look.

On older fittings, the outer contact is the metal screw thread. If that's live, then the base of the bulb becomes live as soon as you start to screw it in. At this point, you could be holding the metal base.

Some modern ES holders have insulating screw threads and a leaf contact that doesn't mate until the bulb is pretty much home, at which point it's hard to touch the bulb's metal base.

Stick the label on the CU and cross your fingers?

Will the internal temperature get above the softening point of PVC cables though? If it does the cores need sleeving with heat resistant sleeves to prevent them slowly moving out of the insulation and causing shorts.

I have known this to happen but fortunately it was on a telephone rack and no real power available. The PVC insulated cables passed over the top of a rack and the cooling intake got partially block meaning the exhaust temp went up to about 70-80C. The cores in the cable shorted and quite a few line faults resulted.

Quite a few of the lamp fittings I have fitted came with glass fibre sleeves to fit over the cores, others had high temp tails.

The little reflector bulbs are the worst as they come in two types which most people don't understand..

One type sends most of the radiant heat out the front and the other out the back so putting one of the wrong ones in can increase the temp in the fittings to the point where stuff chars and burns even with the correct wattage.

I expect you have already seen that.