Minor lighting wires extension - crimping best?

[jmkgreen]

I'm sure this has been answered before but I'm having difficulty narrowing down my question.

Bought a "bar" style light for the kitchen. Removed the existing rose but the three wires are not long enough for me to make the connection into the screw connection block which for some reason is fixed within the rose part of the bar.

Very similar to http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wc...ay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=074764

So I am left wondering what the approved method of extending these wires is. Can't involve much bulk as it has to be contained in the rose of the new fixture. Was thinking of either:

- Cable crimping: http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Cable_crimping
- Ideal Spliceline: http://www.screwfix.com/p/ideal-spliceline-in-line-wire-connectors-pack-of-10/42201

Do the Spliceline gadgets need to be put in a plastic box inside the ceiling though? Or can they be put into the rose? Or perhaps the crimping method is far more suitable anyway?

Thanks guys!

 

[EFLImpudence]

Just use connector blocks and a length of flex.

 

[wingcoax]

If the cables are too short then can you make the hole in the ceiling a bit bigger and push the connectors up and run flex as EFLi suggests?

 

[viewer]

No need for a box if properly made spicelines are used and pushed up as suggested. Wago connectors are also worth a look and will join cable to flex. Also from Screwfix (amongst other places)

 

[jmkgreen]

Finally returned to this. It gets more complicated

Looks like the installer drilled the hole, threaded the wire through it, then nailed down a plank of wood on top of the wire. There is very little scope to push the wire back up into the ceiling.

A friend suggests taking an extension and twisting each wire onto the corresponding wire from the ceiling, wrapping each connection in electrical tape and bundling the lot into the receptical. Sadly someone asked if that was legal and now my wife doesn't want me doing it. She now wants an electrician.

I get the feeling an electrician would take one look at this and laugh at its simplicity yet the circumstances aren't obvious. There's no more that 5-7cm of wire out of the ceiling and with not much void to push into so I'm limited in options.

So twist 'n' tape - legal or a no-no?

 

[wingcoax]

Your wife is right. The "plank" will be a "noggin" a piece of spare floorboard fitted to give something to screw the light fitting to. Can you enlarge the hole without damaging the cables?

 

[jtonline]

There is normally enough space in the light fitting to accommodate a terminal strip and a short length of flex without the need to feed it up into the ceiling void.

 

[Johnmelad]

Some pictures might help.

 

[flyingsparks]

5-7cm should be enough to make a connection. A lot of these ceiling roses don't have room for much more than that anyway.

 

[pjcomp]

An electrician won't laugh at the job's simplicity. Professionals make things look easy because they do them often and get lots of practice. "Amateurs" do it once in a blue moon so don't have the chance to learn from their mistakes. I was once called to chance a light switch on the grounds that "last time my husband did this he went upstairs, I heard a bang, and found him stretched out on the floor".

pj

 

[Greenie9657]

wagos all the way for me