Powerpoint iin the loft?

[Chas Gill]

Oh, dear! Got it all wrong again.

[Bazzer Smith]

Can't get that in my area.

[Bazzer Smith]

Thanks. The problem with asking such questions is that the respondant usually assumes you are familiar with the terms and jargon of the trade. Indeed I have a DIY manual which falls into that trap!! The tell you lots of things you don't what to know and omit the bits you do!! "feed from the lighting circuit, if you take it from the supply between each light"

I assume a 'feed' is some sort of wire, rather than a ready made meal.

Anyway OK if I open up the ceiling flower I will see lots of wires I did last time I tried it :O) So how will that help? You see I am not familliar with household wiring, If I was I propably wouldn't be asking would I!!

Anyway as far as I can see there only need to be two wires, a live one (when switched on), and a return wire. Anyway I will assume there will be a whole bumch of wires there as that is what you imply.

"Sleeve your earth cables"???? Sleeve? I don't think I have an earth cable that I am aware of? What can all that mean?

"flying power lead"... hmmm....is that something to with aviation, will I need to take flying lessons?

OK I will stop this nonsense, What I am perhaps thinking of doing is taking a cheapo short (four-way) extention cable (costs about £1-£2) and taking off the plug to expose the live earth and neutral wires. Then I will try to connect them to the existing wires somehow from the ceiling rose.

Anyway acording to this diagram I wont find the 'always live' wire at the ceils rose. So how do I find it? I guess I need to find the wire from the switch, fortunately I will be using a bathroom light which has a switch in the ceiling so that should give me a good clue. There will be an alway live wire there. So......... I will be able to get a live and neutral wire at least, not sure if there is any earth (only remember seing two wires when I loooked in the loft.

So I can either forget the earth all togeather or run a wire to a bit too exposed pipe work. I guess I can test if it is earthed by touching it with the live wire :O)

That way I will have four power points in the loft and still have a plug on my amp, which incidently is basically a 'plug' ie it has no cable.

[Bazzer Smith]

I forgot this limk I was looking at.

anyway.

[Max Demian]

I'm afraid it's a way to determine whether you are likely to be competent to do the job.

To find the live wire, a neon screwdriver is useful, if shops are still allowed to sell such things. (They might be in the locked cabinet with the other "offensive weapons" like kitchen knives.)

I really don't think you should be messing with the lighting circuits. Buy a few metres of 5amp three core flex and wire one end to a "cable end" or "floating" 13 amp socket (the kind with a cable grip - usually rubber). Poke a small hole in the ceiling at a convenient place and push the wire through and fit a 13 amp plug with a 3 amp fuse, then just plug it into a socket.

There's no guarantee that the booster will work any better up there. If you are feeding two aerial inputs a booster which has two outputs might be better rather than using a passive splitter. I assume your Freecom USB DDTV stick doesn't have "passthrough" (i.e. an aerial output as well as an input). It's always better to "daisy chain" appliances together if possible, like the way you wire a VCR and a TV up to the aerial.

[Roderick Stewart]

If this is your level of understanding, it would be better for you to get a qualified electrician to do the job. Seriously. The result will be legal, and you'll still be alive to enjoy the use of it.

Rod.

[Doctor D]

Sorry, my mistake, I had assumed this was a tech newsgroup. Call an electrician.

You won't usually find a neutral at a light switch. If your lighting circuit is not earthed your wiring is old and probably needs re-wiring. Do not use it to feed any sockets - it won't be safe without an earth.

What you have suggested is dangerous and does not comply with current (or past) Regs.

[Bazzer Smith]

I have a degree in elecronics, more than your average 'qualified electrician'.

[Bazzer Smith]

It's uk.d-i-y

So what only I will know about it and I am willing to take the risk:O)

[Andy Hall]

Common sense would tell you that that would matter, wouldn't it?

However, you probably pay your taxes and do your bureaucratic dues.

The legislation in part P of the Building Regulations is intended for those practitioners who can manage to achieve a basic ability with a bit of day release or evening classes at the Tech, and who would find their consciences sufficiently challenged that they will be willing to fill in their tax returns and thus provide Gordon Brown with more money to waste.

Remember that the purpose is not to address people with ability and brains, only those willing to toe the line

[Bazzer Smith]

Not sure what all that means. Can anyone translate it in to laymans speak?

[Roderick Stewart]

A degree in electronics is of little practical use here if you still have to ask which wire goes where in a simple bit of household mains installation. What on earth did they teach you that you can actually use?

It is utterly irrelevant whether you or your electrician has a degree in anything. (He might very well have one - who knows). He has to have the appropriate C&G certificate in order to carry out electrical installation work legally, and the course he will have had to attend to get this will ensure that he also does it safely. In the situation you describe, he will be better qualified than you.

Rod.

[Owain]

No he doesn't.

In a domestic setting there is no law which requires an electrician to be competent or qualified. Part P has not changed this.

Owain

[charles]

[Snip]

He will need a certificate (which I don't think is C&G) to carry out 'certain' work legally. Quite a lot can still be done legally without such a certificate. Indeed, all work (under Part P) can be done without a certificate, provided the work is tested by someone sutiably qualified.

[Bazzer Smith]

Certaintly not household wiring which could be done in a variety of ways. I can't say I learn't anything of much use really a few bit and bobs about basic circuits, largely a waste of time, anyway I only got a third, 90% of it bored the pants off me.

Obviously to do his job yes, but once you know how there probably erally isn't that much to it. Once you have done the job correctly you are pretty much an 'expert'.

[Bob Eager]

This is very naive. The calculations involved, before you even start, would not be beyond you. But you have to know what to calculate, and be aware (just as one example) of things such as thermal derating. And your question about earths doesn't inspire great confidence.

Sorry...but I think you really do need to find out how much you don't know.

[Bazzer Smith]

eh?

If I don't know it I will find it out or work it out. If I can't work it out I doubt anyone else can.

[Chas Gill]

All of this has just GOT to be a wind up and you, my friend, have GOT to be taking the piss. If you really are serious then for God's sake leave it all alone and get someone in who knows what they are doing. Seriously.................

[Bazzer Smith]

You are doing the wind up.

[Prometheus]

In article , Bazzer Smith writes

The current rating of a cable depends on how well it can dissipate heat, now let's see if you can work out why...