Fromt room lights ??????

[DNS]

Went to look at a CU change today. To be told the wall lights in the front room haven't worked for thirteen years. I thought check the lights first, otherwise the Rcd on a new CU would just keep tripping if there is a fault. Sure enough there were neutral faults. none of the wall lights in the living room had a neutral, sure, a Black wire was connected to each light, but they weren't neutrals??? Found a metal J/B unger the floorboards upstairs with 13 cables going into it, with a mass of choc blocks. see pictures. No identification/labeling. I labeled them A- K plus one feed, until I identified each wire. Took a while but got there in the end. These lights haven't worked for 13 years.....13 seems to be a connection here............excuse the punn.................They are all working now I found the faults. Hopefully now there should be no nuicanse tripping when done. The earthing arrangement was very suspect.......see pics.

 

[Adam W]

So what did you actually do in the end? Did you just put all the wires back in the box or do a bit of rewiring?

 

[tigerpaul]

How did you find the JB? Was it pure luck?

 

[Darkwood]

Hope you killed that bug crawling up your hand

 

[kingeri]

I thought that underlay in the first pic was your arm at first. Looks like an arm with a nasty cut on it.

 

[Brightspark2]

Now that is a nest...

How did you find the JB? Was it pure luck?

I'd also like to know this...

Sent from my Xperia S using next doors WIFI

 

[DNS1]

Looking at pic 1, I'm not sure that notch in the joist is compliant with the regs!

By the way, I'm only here because I (again) got confused by your username and wondered how I'd managed to start this thread!

 

[Geordie Spark]

Went to look at a CU change today. To be told the wall lights in the front room haven't worked for thirteen years. I thought check the lights first, otherwise the Rcd on a new CU would just keep tripping if there is a fault. Sure enough there were neutral faults. none of the wall lights in the living room had a neutral, sure, a Black wire was connected to each light, but they weren't neutrals??? Found a metal J/B unger the floorboards upstairs with 13 cables going into it, with a mass of choc blocks. see pictures. No identification/labeling. I labeled them A- K plus one feed, until I identified each wire. Took a while but got there in the end. These lights haven't worked for 13 years.....13 seems to be a connection here............excuse the punn.................They are all working now I found the faults. Hopefully now there should be no nuicanse tripping when done. The earthing arrangement was very suspect.......see pics.View attachment 14813View attachment 14814View attachment 14815View attachment 14816View attachment 14817View attachment 14818

So where is the "after" pic .... where you show us the maintenance-free connectors that you used & the way you re-routed the cables away from those copper pipes?? :smug2: :wink5:

 

[DNS]

So what did you actually do in the end? Did you just put all the wires back in the box or do a bit of rewiring?

It was the downstairs lighting, so I used a wander lead on my Megger to trace each wire. Red and Black lighting wires are a nigtmare when they are not identified as you probably know. A red from a 3 gang switch down stairs by the time it got to this box it was black, so there is another JB somewhere I'm sure. Once I had identified each wire I used wago clip connectors and MF enclosures.

 

[DNS]

How did you find the JB? Was it pure luck?

Finding this JB was a sort of educated estimate and an inspection camera with a light on it. I'm sure there is another somewhere, which is where the neutral fault developed, it has been bypassed now, rectifying the fault. I was getting power to the lights, but no neutral to the four wall lights in the living room.

 

[DNS]

Looking at pic 1, I'm not sure that notch in the joist is compliant with the regs!

By the way, I'm only here because I (again) got confused by your username and wondered how I'd managed to start this thread!

Hi DNS1.....That notch was for a pipe at one time. There is only one cable running through it. Don't worry I shall drill a hole in the joist and re-route it. Thanks for drawing attention to it, I probably would have left it.

 

[Amp David]

I thought that underlay in the first pic was your arm at first. Looks like an arm with a nasty cut on it.

HaHa, me too

 

[DNS]

HaHa, me too

I did have a nasty stab wound on my finger from the blxxxxy gripper.

 

[DNS]

Tidied up the cables today after finding the break in the neutral, looks like rodent damage. Line was exposed and still live for many years. wall lights haven't worked for 13 years. They have been very very lucky this hasn't caused fire.
All the cables have now been connected using wago push connectors and wago boxes and tucked awayat the furthest point from the pipes. DNS1 I drilled the joist 30mm below the notch which was 20mm deep. To bring the cable through. Top tip I always use is top take a photo under the floorboards if I can't see under.A good digital photo you can zoom right in and see where cables are running.