woah! Danger present with BG outdoor light switch

[daveb]

Thought i'd share this one that happened to me today....

Was wiring up a customer gazebo with BG weatherproof fittings (light switch, sockets, JB and mains board). Anyway, all went fine and was on to testing the circuits.... circuits all tested fine.

The lighting cables were terminated into a JB for the time being as the customer does not have the lights yet. So, once I had finished and just by chance i thought i would use my voltage pen on the connectors just to prove the light switch was off. Pen lit up but the switch was off? Scratched the head..... used my voltage tester and was getting 108 volts with the switch off!

The BG outfdoor light switch has a neon on it via a resitor on the lead between common and one way terminal..... guessed that this was the problem rather than a faulty switch so removed it which in turn completely removed all voltage when the switch was off.

Very dangerous if you were relying on the switch to isolate the power so thought i would share.

Anyone else come across this before??

 

[Dave OCD]

Shins to ----. There's ya zones.

Spider method. Seen a few spots wired like that. Never a full floor!

It was the most common method in years gone by I'd say, long before looping from light to light was conceived. Also a very simple method when rewiring as you only need one cable from each switch and light and just a single 3 core and cpc to each 2 way switch. Of course for upstairs rewiring in an accessible loftspace I'd revert to the usual loop in method.

 

[D00DY_T00DY]

It was the most common method in years gone by I'd say, long before looping from light to light was conceived. Also a very simple method when rewiring as you only need one cable from each switch and light and just a single 3 core and cpc to each 2 way switch. Of course for upstairs rewiring in an accessible loftspace I'd revert to the usual loop in method.

I always thought loop in was the original method with the octopus method being the bodge type jobby.
Every days a school day huh

 

[Dave OCD]

No nothing bodge about it at all, I wouldn't have thought ceiling rose fittings with loop terminals were around before the 1960s , someone will correct me if I'm wrong though.

 

[D00DY_T00DY]

No nothing bodge about it at all, I wouldn't have thought ceiling rose fittings with loop terminals were around before the 1960s , someone will correct me if I'm wrong though.

My thinking that one cable feeding a whole hosts of lights is like a spur with for example 5 points.
Just seemed bizarre to me.

 

[Dave OCD]

Yeah fair enough but it's basically a radial circuit to the box and as long as the cable has the correct OCPD etc no issue - no different to the first 'leg' on loop in lighting taking all of the circuit current.

 

[Rpa07]

Last time we used it it fed the 5amp table lamp sockets and the switch wire. Was perfect for this instance. Done neatly and methodically it works and easy to understand if accessed.

 

[ruston]

I have an example of one I cut out , it is not an octopus, only four through if I remember right . It is either in VIR or TRS, not sure now. I have not even had the lid off it yet.
I will post a pic tomorrow if I can remember where it is.

 

[D00DY_T00DY]

Last time we used it it fed the 5amp table lamp sockets and the switch wire. Was perfect for this instance. Done neatly and methodically it works and easy to understand if accessed.

Of course everyone has their methods,
Find it more bizzare that it's older than loop in!
Must be a whole lot of cables to one connection unit?
I'm fasinated on how it's done now

 

[Rpa07]

Of course everyone has their methods,
Find it more bizzare that it's older than loop in!
Must be a whole lot of cables to one connection unit?
I'm fasinated on how it's done now

Can save a lot of cable feeding each 5amp socket instead of looping it around a room, especially if dropping from above. The switch wire is operating all the sockets for table lamps. Usually only posh people have this, the rest of us reach over the sofa and flick the rocker!

 

[daveb]

To be fair the ones I have seen were terminated absolutely beautifully. The sparky obviously took pride in his work and was nice to see.

On the other hand I was at a fairly new build last week (around 10 year old) and you should have seen the state of the consumer unit. It's like it was done as a temporary fix just to get the power up and running. Just shook my head

 

[D00DY_T00DY]

To be fair the ones I have seen were terminated absolutely beautifully. The sparky obviously took pride in his work and was nice to see.

On the other hand I was at a fairly new build last week (around 10 year old) and you should have seen the state of the consumer unit. It's like it was done as a temporary fix just to get the power up and running. Just shook my head

It's nice to see when someone's taken pride in what they've installed. Was at a job with Paul M couple years ago and was given the task of fixing the alarm. Took the cover off to see the back of it signed.

And ah the classic "looks alright from my house" install

 

[D00DY_T00DY]

Can save a lot of cable feeding each 5amp socket instead of looping it around a room, especially if dropping from above. The switch wire is operating all the sockets for table lamps. Usually only posh people have this, the rest of us reach over the sofa and flick the rocker!

Yeah makes sense. Saving half the cable on the run.
Only installed a couple recently actually in leeds. Never knew they were a thing!
Thought 5amp sockets went away yonks ago.
Used to have them years ago in the bedroom(usually the only socket) for heaters to stop the windows frosting, right?

 

[Rpa07]

Unfused plugs specially for lighting to keep the loading down - you'd have to know exactly where all your furniture was going to stay as you wouldn't want to have trailing leads if you repositioned later date.

 

[davesparks]

Davesparks, why don't you just troll off somewhere else. Sick of your superior smug replies to everybody. It got like this before and all that happens is people start leaving the forum.

I'm not trolling, only speaking my mind just as I do in the real world.
My replies aren't superior, we are all equal here and entitled to our opinion.

If you don't wish to read my posts then use the ignore function.