What kind lighting circuit do I have?

[yzenezy]

Hi,

I want to put six low voltage lights in the kitchen ceiling and three under-cupboard lights but I'm unsure of a few things.

One thing is, what kind of light circuit I currently have. Our flat was built in the mid to late fourties and although the ring circuits for the power has been re-done, the lighting circuits look original.

The lighting circuit has red and black wires in a metal conduit. I don't see an earth wire anywhere. Is the metal conduit the earth?

How can I tell if we have loop-in or loop-at-switch wiring? Does it matter?

With respect to the lights in the kitchen ceiling, what is the best way to wire them? Do I put a junction box where the original light's wires come out? Can I then run a single cable around to the lights and have them connect into that? Should that cable be ring back to the junction box where the original light fitting was?

With respect to the under-cupboard lights, should I run a cable from the ceiling junction box down to the switch and back to the cupboard lights?

Sorry about all the questions.

I appreciate any help on this.

Thanks in advance

 

[plugwash]

The lighting circuit has red and black wires in a metal conduit. I don't see an earth wire anywhere. Is the metal conduit the earth?

Its likely it was intended to be but if its that old it should either be inspected with professional gear or an extra earth added (you should be able to replace the wiring in conduits whilst leaving the conduit in place).

How can I tell if we have loop-in or loop-at-switch wiring? Does it matter?

you probablly have neither. typical conduit wiring practice is to take stuff only where it needs to go. That is permanent lives to the switches. Neutrals to the light fittings and switched lives from the switches to the lights.


For the worktop lights i'd just use a FCU spurred off the ring.

For the ceiling lights you need to look at the original wiring. Most likely it will finish at a conduit box which you should be able to replace with one with more entries (this may be tricky if it already has more than one maybe some sparks could advise on how you deal with this) and then put terminal block inside the conduit box to connect to your new wiring.