110 volt festoon lighting

[KAMAG]

Hello all.
The place i work is about to fit some festoon lighting around a project in the yard where i work. I do all the pat testing but am not sure how to go about testing the festoons. I seem to remember a couple of years ago speaking to a spark who worked for a sub contractor and he said with festoons there is nothing to test it either works or not, just make sure there is no damage to the cable. these festoons will be plugged into transformers on the job (not by me i rarely go out there) and i believe they have either overloads or rcd's built in.
I would apreciate any help on this.
KAMAG.

 

[stef]

Hi Kamag,

If it is for outdoors, I would do at least an insulation test ( without the bulbs of course) and a visual.

 

[KAMAG]

Would i do that by hooking one core up to the earth of the tester and the other to any of the live/neutral points, it's two core cable, no earth.
Thank you.

 

[needasparks]

Think the most common fault with festoon is finding a broken lamp with the lamp base left in the holder. you don't notice one unless you really study each lampholder.
and yes, IR the lead, no damage and check the 110 plug terminals.

 

[PEG]

Just a minor point but ensure the kit is dry before IR test,these yokes always seem to be stored somewhere dismal,usually in a sack under the leaky part of the stores.Also liable to be secretly dogged up by needy painters/sandblasters/welders etc from previous task. Last one i fiddled with had impressive joint near end made up entirely using masking tape,sigh...

 

[stef]

Would i do that by hooking one core up to the earth of the tester and the other to any of the live/neutral points, it's two core cable, no earth.
Thank you.

Yes, exactly that.

 

[KAMAG]

Thank you very much chaps but i am not sure how to do an IR test is. From some past electronics i use to do, i reccon it is current/resistance. I am not a spark as you may have gathered, the Ethos 9500 came with loads of pre-set tests for class 1 & 2, both 110 & 240, IT equipment and various leads. I change the values for cable sizes and length. I have used it for about six years or more now and make test leads up to suit the appliance. If i make a lead up to do an insulation test between the two leads eg: live/brown lead into earth input, neutral to any of the live/neutral inputs so it can test the insulation would that be ok. Oh and all bulbs removed.
Alternatively I would be grateful if you could explain if there is a simple way to do the IE test, i will refresh Ohm's law if the need be.
Thank you again.

 

[Amp David]

Does festoon lighting have an earth running to each lamp holder?

 

[KAMAG]

No it is flat 2 core 2.5 cable. We will be using Beeantee fittings as they just screw together over the cable, then if the festoon gets damaged we can re-use the fittings, or shorten the festoon as required.
Cheers.

 

[KAMAG]

I thought about using the earth bond test on each core one at a time end to end, bulbs removed and then an insulation test between them. I didn't want to remove all the bulbs as they have plastic weather proof covers over them which are a pain to get back together, but it is the only way i can think of thoroughly testing the cable. What i thought i might have got was for someone to say, just do this or that.
It is quite a few years since i was sent on a C&G in pat testing, but it covered very little actual test methods that i recall, it was then about two years before they asked me to do it.
Cheers.

 

[Risteard]

The insulation test when PAT testing is carried out between live conductors and the cpc, so cannot be done without a cpc.

Also, 110V RLV does not contain a neutral (I noticed a couple of mentions of the neutral conductor above). There are simply two line conductors at 55V to Earth in the single-phase variant (each line is 63.5V to Earth in the three-phase variant).