I'm currently rewiring a house and it's being done under LABC notification as its not financially viable to go and do inspection & test, then become a member of a scheme etc etc to self cert just for one job. Electrics / electronics aren't new to me. I've done several domestic rewires over the years before PartP came in.
Rather than do the downstairs lighting circuit hardwired in the usual way I'd much rather bring everything, radial, switches, lamps to one point and then sort it out. At the moment the house is gutted and its very easy to do anything I like in it.
I want to do this for 2 reasons:
1) At some point in the future the downstair room configurations will change after an extension. The switch and light fitting placings will stay the same, but their interaction will change. Another couple of lamps and switches will be added.
2) Further down the line still, the lighting system will go under the control of a computer for control and energy monitoring. The control side (ie the voltages found at the light switches) will probably become 12 volt.
3) Additions become organized and easy to do and troubleshooting the same.
4) With a couple of parallel light fittings switched from two/three places the wiring becomes easier and there's never a connector block or congestion anywhere in the fittings.
Accessibility and future inspection is course a concern, so I was going to bring it to a fit for purpose steel box mounted high up near the ceiling under the stairs. Whilst freely accessible and visible it's 9 foot off the floor so unlikely to be disturbed. For the connections I'd want reliability and a modular, upgradeable approach, so I'm thinking DIN rail. To first of all to form the necessary hard patches between the wiring and then at a later date install the isolated control gear. I've yet to use DIN rail but have come across it a number of times. I'd much prefer something that was industry standard.
My questions for you are:
A) Can anybody see a better way of doing it? Either a better system or any tweeks.
B) Is DIN rail the way to go? It seems very widely used and cheap enough. I like its modularity.
c) Ultimately I know it's for the LABC inspector to approve or disprove of, but can you see anything there that would be of genuine concern and that they could definitely throw out? I'm worried that he might throw a wobbler over it as he was getting twitchy when I said he'd be looking at a CU full of RCBOs. Although if he's unsure about that it leads me to question his abilities. If I've got a case, which I think I have, and there's no reason why its not okay I'll politely argue it with him. If it all goes mad I may HAVE to go and do I & T.
Rather than do the downstairs lighting circuit hardwired in the usual way I'd much rather bring everything, radial, switches, lamps to one point and then sort it out. At the moment the house is gutted and its very easy to do anything I like in it.
I want to do this for 2 reasons:
1) At some point in the future the downstair room configurations will change after an extension. The switch and light fitting placings will stay the same, but their interaction will change. Another couple of lamps and switches will be added.
2) Further down the line still, the lighting system will go under the control of a computer for control and energy monitoring. The control side (ie the voltages found at the light switches) will probably become 12 volt.
3) Additions become organized and easy to do and troubleshooting the same.
4) With a couple of parallel light fittings switched from two/three places the wiring becomes easier and there's never a connector block or congestion anywhere in the fittings.
Accessibility and future inspection is course a concern, so I was going to bring it to a fit for purpose steel box mounted high up near the ceiling under the stairs. Whilst freely accessible and visible it's 9 foot off the floor so unlikely to be disturbed. For the connections I'd want reliability and a modular, upgradeable approach, so I'm thinking DIN rail. To first of all to form the necessary hard patches between the wiring and then at a later date install the isolated control gear. I've yet to use DIN rail but have come across it a number of times. I'd much prefer something that was industry standard.
My questions for you are:
A) Can anybody see a better way of doing it? Either a better system or any tweeks.
B) Is DIN rail the way to go? It seems very widely used and cheap enough. I like its modularity.
c) Ultimately I know it's for the LABC inspector to approve or disprove of, but can you see anything there that would be of genuine concern and that they could definitely throw out? I'm worried that he might throw a wobbler over it as he was getting twitchy when I said he'd be looking at a CU full of RCBOs. Although if he's unsure about that it leads me to question his abilities. If I've got a case, which I think I have, and there's no reason why its not okay I'll politely argue it with him. If it all goes mad I may HAVE to go and do I & T.
