...and I thought Ikea light fittings were bad

littlespark · Sep 10, 2018

Hi all.
Got asked by a customer to change a couple of pendants in his house to something he had bought from Next.

[ElectriciansForums.net] ...and I thought Ikea light fittings were bad

Nice enough metal twist design. Fragile glass globe shades and you get the shade retention ring tightener for those with chubby fingers.

Mounting bracket has holes that match the pendant screw spacing, along with extras.

The fitting has a rather large connection enclosed in heatshrink, leading to a connector plug.

The connector is a plug and socket, so that is actually a pro to this fitting. Can do all the terminating without the weight of the fitting pulling the wires out. There is no 4th terminal for a looped live, but that is the norm with these things.

Barely enough space to fit in the cable, plug/socket, and the cable to the heatshrinked connector. Baring in mind the metal twists are sticking through into this space as well.

All in all, a complete PITA to work on, but I knew what to expect.
A better design would to make the small cables going down the twists to the lampholder a little longer and terminating them in the plug part of the connector - doing away with the heatshrink covered block altogether
If this house was loop-in, there would be no way of fitting 2 or 3 T&E's into the space without some rewiring of the fitting.

Gavin John Hyde · Sep 10, 2018

I have fitted them, found them quite straight forward, trick is to use a wago box above and drop a piece of flex down below. put on all the glass shades afterwards, just dont over tighten them. they look good with warm white lamps in them

buzzlightyear · Sep 10, 2018

Gavin John Hyde said:
put on all the glass shades afterwards, just dont over tighten them. they look good with warm white lamps in them

A REPRESENTATIVE FORM IKEA .

Octopus · Sep 10, 2018

Based on personal experience DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT offer TLC sold product to your clients ..

TLC Part No. GL31744B

Its branded "Coastal"

Coastal 2 x 7w GU10 LED Up and Down Wall Light c/w PIR - Black - https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GL31744B.html

Toneyz · Sep 10, 2018

It seems that all fittings these days are designed just for one cable domestic and commercial.

Toneyz · Sep 10, 2018

Murdoch said:
Based on personal experience DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT offer TLC sold product to your clients ..

TLC Part No. GL31744B

Its branded "Coastal"

Coastal 2 x 7w GU10 LED Up and Down Wall Light c/w PIR - Black - https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GL31744B.html

Why not?

Strima · Sep 10, 2018

Murdoch said:
Based on personal experience DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT offer TLC sold product to your clients ..

TLC Part No. GL31744B

Its branded "Coastal"

Coastal 2 x 7w GU10 LED Up and Down Wall Light c/w PIR - Black - https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GL31744B.html

What’s wrong with them?

Octopus · Sep 10, 2018

anthonybragg said:
Why not?

Almost impossible to get the fixing nuts back on when you holding it in your hands, let alone on a ladder

The TLC manager agreed with me too ....

sparkdog · Sep 10, 2018

I always wonder how light manufacturers get away with turning out such rubbish connectors, all compliant with BS...Donald Duck.

littlespark · Sep 10, 2018

I thought I had deleted those 2 other images?

Agree that these were straight forward when you know what to expect from these types of fittings that were designed by a designer and not someone electrically minded.

Awkward to fit the screws through the base onto the bracket with fat thumbs. Same problem with Murdochs nuts. (sorry, couldn't resist saying that!)

Goes without saying fitting the globes afterwards. Wouldn't want to drop and break one of those balls (again!)..

Customer also supplied warm white LED filament style lamps, also from Next.

Gavin John Hyde · Sep 10, 2018

When i fitted them lights, I used the wagos and as an extra hand i used a screw hook to hold the fitting when doing the connections to the fitting.

123 · Sep 10, 2018

Anything has to be better than that crappy little 1A connector in a white housing that's so common in light fittings these days.

Nearly sure when I have fitted that light fitting in the past that's what it's had, so this one must be something of an update to it.

What all lighting manufacturers need to do is get a few sparks in to tell them how do design the connections to it, pretty much every light fitting is woefully designed for the end installer. Especially if 3 plate wiring method.

happysteve · Sep 10, 2018

At least it's a Class 1 fitting. The worst ones are the (supposedly) Class 2 fittings, which are metal (usually with integrated LEDs, or sometimes built-in 12V transformer for G4 lamps). They come with a couple of short lengths of sleeving, which you're encouraged to use on the L and N feeds to give them an extra layer of insulation. Which is fine if you've just got a single feed, but not much use if you've got 3-plate with loop in and loop out.

Rpa07 · Sep 10, 2018

123 said:
What all lighting manufacturers need to do is get a few sparks in to tell them how do design the connections to it, pretty much every light fitting is woefully designed for the end installer. Especially if 3 plate wiring method.

If they invited sparks in for some advice they’d have to give them a buffet lunch and let them use the toilets and I can’t see that happening when they can just carry on as is! Remember it’s only us that suffer - not the customer!

Midwest · Sep 11, 2018

I've put up 4 Next luminaires in my house (we have a very large Next bill), same connections etc as your luminaire. Binned that connector, and use Wago's inside the fitting (as already suggested). If it was loop in & out, I'd use a Click Flow 102C, in the ceiling void. Jobs a good en.

Get it already to go. Most fiddly bit, is getting the side fixing screws started, magnetic screw driver head helps.

...and I thought Ikea light fittings were bad

littlespark

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Gavin John Hyde

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buzzlightyear

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Octopus

Toneyz

Toneyz

Strima

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Octopus

sparkdog

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littlespark

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Gavin John Hyde

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123

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happysteve

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Rpa07

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Midwest

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