Do streetlights need bonding?

[cornburn]

I've been asked to put a new feed in for some streetlights. There are 4 of them that used to work but several people have spent hours trying to find where the SWA is fed from (underground) and came to the conclusion is must have been cut through or damaged somewhere and we'll put a new feed into the first light and disconnect the old feed in (would be interested to hear how you would do this, screw terminals, wago in a box, resin etc)

My main question is whether or not the ally casing of the lights themselves would need bonding? They come out of the ground but as they contain the connections surely they would be classed as an exposed conductive part, and would just have a fly lead from the earth bar inside?

Secondly I'm planning on putting on a 6A RCBO, just double checking this is required for an SWA radial circuit to lighting of this type, it's a new one on me

 

[mogga]

internaly fit a cutout SMK or LUCY make them to fit coloums the col itself requires bonding as does the door (m make sure the door bond is long enough to reach the groung to prevent strain on the crimps )

you may get tripping using RCBOs depending on the condition of poles (damp condensation)

as for 6a that will depend on type/size of head you are using hope this helps

 

[johnboy6083]

i would seal the end of the first cable with resin to ensure no problems if cable re energised for some reason. no problems in the future then

 

[johnboy6083]

dont forget that street furniture is a special location in the regs!

john

 

[cornburn]

Thanks for the tips. The 6A will be fine as they're only standard screw lamps (max 100W each), 400A total. I was thinking down the lines of a resin joint to block off the old feed as you say to prevent any future problems if someone does find where it's fed from in the future.

I should have mentioned that although they look like streetlights they're not actually on the street, they're more like tall lanterns to light up a pathway on private property. Not sure if that would still count as street furniture, and I guess by special location you mean they would need to be RCD protected. Each unit currently has a BILL fuse holder inside, which I guess is to stop the whole run tripping off when a bulb pops. The customer won't want to pay out for new cutouts in them , I guess they'd be a fair few quid for 4 of them? Never used them before. Just looking at 559.10.3.3 which seems to say that I will need to pull through a minimum of 6mm earth! "Street furniture" is defined as electrical equipment on a highway, so it looks as if these lights won't count as that. Will keep reading......

 

[Marty48]

I've been asked to put a new feed in for some streetlights. There are 4 of them that used to work but several people have spent hours trying to find where the SWA is fed from (underground) and came to the conclusion is must have been cut through or damaged somewhere and we'll put a new feed into the first light and disconnect the old feed in (would be interested to hear how you would do this, screw terminals, wago in a box, resin etc)

My main question is whether or not the ally casing of the lights themselves would need bonding? They come out of the ground but as they contain the connections surely they would be classed as an exposed conductive part, and would just have a fly lead from the earth bar inside?

Secondly I'm planning on putting on a 6A RCBO, just double checking this is required for an SWA radial circuit to lighting of this type, it's a new one on me

You go careful with stripping that SWA cable Cornburn !!!!