ring circuit

[ceefax28]

when using a ring circuit how come if you disconect a wire from a socket the circuit brakes when bothe ends of the circuit are still connected to the consumer unit? i cant understand how this is possible even though i know it is. thanks...... mick bridlington

 

[Blackadder22]

Somethings not right here!! I've just installed a ring main, and you have two pairs of wires to each socket all of mine are wired up except one to which the socket was faulty all the others work without this one inline I suspect what you have is a radial circuit or a couple of sockets that have been spured off the main.Does that make any sense?

Regards John

 

[AnonymousImport]

It is because the wires go in and out of the socket in question, feeding the next one and so on back to the board. If you remove the wire from the socket you are breaking the circuit.

 

[adonis_ii]

you are quite corr3ect the circuit when broken at one socket will not interupt the supply to the rest. you have a faulty ring where the ring has already been broken somewhere else. or a wiring system known as radial or star. star wiring died with the round pin plug some fifty years ago do you have old fabric or rubber insulated wires?

 

[MANDATE]

When a socket is wired bya radial method using 1 live and 1 neutral and 1 earth the circuit is already broken and is only completed when a load is used by inserting the plug and switching on.
When a second socket is needed the live/neutral/earth wires are taken from those entering the first socket
So now you have the original circuit and a extended circuit and a third socket would give another extended circuit and so on until you reach the last socket.
Depending which socket you remove the wire from will decide which sockets are no longer capable of making a circuit when a load is used.
A break in either the live or the neutral will have the same effect.
A ring main method is wired in the same manner, but instead of finishing at the last socket the cable containing the live/neutral/earth is continued back to the fusebox to the same terminals as the the original outgoing cable.

So you have one cable going clockwise and another going anticlockwise feeding the sockets, the reason being they share the load and by comparison a smaller cable can be used
Now if you removed a wire or in fact the length of cable between two sockets, the sockets would still function but not as a ring.
You will have created two radial circuits
In practice you may not have a true 'ring main', Any spurs taken from a socket or junction box are radial
Hope this helps to clarify the position.
unless I've got it wrong

 

[breezer]

no, that is right except for one small point, radial circuits have to have a bigger cable than the "ordainairy " ring which uses 2 x 2.5.

You could also liken it to the M25 go can go any way round you like but if a section is not avaiable you can always go the other way round.

Pity though cars can not travel the same speed as electricity (299,792,458 metres /second )

 

[kumbi]

I want to move a socket (ring circuit) further away buy extending the two cables using 2 x(One for each Cable) 3amp Terminal Block connectors, that will be set inside a wall with the cables. I will skim over and then tile over. Is this recommended. Please help.


Regards

Kumbi

 

[breezer]

see your post in the elecrics forum

 

[Raphael]

I just moved in an 1900 house. Could you please tell me how can i find out where is the lighting ring in my house? the only obvious things are the sockets and the lights. No junction boxes are apparent.

thank you very much.

 

[breezer]

you will never find it because you havent got one. Lights are not wired in a ring, which is why you will never find it, and if done properly it has no junction boxes which is also why you havent found any

it is wired like this

( i knew that drawing would come in useful again)

but why do you want to know?