Loft lighting

[GARYF123]

Hi, need some advice please! I have put a fluorescent light in loft and switch and was going to going to use the loop in method for wiring. All the upstairs fittings are wired direct (no rose). I then decided to use the junction box method but all the cables on light circuit are run in singles. All the fittings i can see seem to have 2 single black cables and a single red with earth going to it. One of the bedroom fittings had a red going to live and 2 blacks going to the same neutral. How can i connect to the circuit to get my loft light working and switching correctly?

Many thanks,

Gary.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

What do you have at the switches?

I wonder if your circuit consists of N looping through the lights and L looping through the switches?

What sort of cables are the singles? Are they just insulated, i.e. like the cores from normal twin & earth, or are they sheathed as well?

Are they run in conduit?

 

[Steve]

Gary, I'd advise against wiring from any circuit accessible from the loft. Think about it. You want to alter the lighting circuit sometime in the future, so you need to isolate it. You now have no loft light. Try to find another source for the power.

 

[GARYF123]

Hi Ban-all-sheds,
Thanks for reply. The singles i can see in loft are not run in conduit and are sheathed (grey) except the bathroom light switch (on the landing), there are 2 lives (red) going to it which are not sheathed. The bedroom light fitting i looked at had 1 live, 1 earth and the 2 neutrals that were connected to same terminal (all singles except 2 core red which had earth). Can you help??

Thanks,

Gary.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Hi Ban-all-sheds,
Thanks for reply. The singles i can see in loft are not run in conduit and are sheathed (grey)

OK - they should be either sheathed or protected by conduit.

except the bathroom light switch (on the landing), there are 2 lives (red) going to it which are not sheathed.

I wonder if there was originally a pull-switch in the bathroom, and somebody changed it to a wall switch outside, and just used unsheathed singles to drop to the switch? Odd not to have just used twin & earth. Anyway - speculation... it is what it is. Is there an earth?

The bedroom light fitting i looked at had 1 live, 1 earth and the 2 neutrals that were connected to same terminal (all singles except 2 core red which had earth). Can you help??

Sounds as if the neutral loops through the lights, and the live loops through the switches. A novel idea.

As long as you understand the concept of live & neutral, and know how to use a multimeter it won't be difficult to confirm. You'll need to take a permanent live from the nearest /easiest switch, up into the loft, and through a switch to the loft light. Neutral you can get from the lighting circuit. It might be easiest to introduce a JB to the circuit to give you a place to take L/N/E, and then run from there to the switch, and on to the light, in twin & earth, with the neutrals joined at the switch in a piece of choc-block.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Gary, I'd advise against wiring from any circuit accessible from the loft. Think about it. You want to alter the lighting circuit sometime in the future, so you need to isolate it. You now have no loft light.

So no worse off than he is now, with no loft light....