power to my shed and garden

arthurbear · 2 Dec 2005

Hi to all,First things first this is my first post here

Now on to my prob,at the moment i have power running from my house to my shed/garage,this leads to a plug socket,what i want to do is use this power supply to power some lights in my garden,i have just got myself an outside double switch ( from b&q in the nice grey affect ).i want to use the power supply from the shed to this switch to power on the lights in the garden.
How can i connect this to the power supply going to the shed and feed it through the switch to the lights????????????I'm a total noobie to this and a guide in a simple format would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance

breezer · 2 Dec 2005

question,

will the shed supply be able to cope with the new lights?

assuming it can, go back to b & q, buy a plug and plug your lights in, it complies with part p as hard wireing them in will not comply.

try a search for part p

arthurbear · 2 Dec 2005

Thank you for your quick response,I have run the power directly from a mains plug in the house,i have already got the lights working from the shed plug socket but i wanted to use an outside switch instead of going into the shed and turning them on,how do i run the power from the shed to the switch to the lights?or cant this be done.cheers

breezer · 2 Dec 2005

arthurbear said:
I have run the power directly from a mains plug in the house

oh dear

I am not sure how to say this, but that is very dangeours, try a search on power to shed, garage outbuilding, for mor info

arthurbear · 2 Dec 2005

no i think you have got it all wrong,i have run a feed from the mains that goes to a plug socket in the house.I will keep trying.cheers

Steve · 2 Dec 2005

arthurbear, what size cable is feeding the socket in the shed? If you want to wire more things to this socket, you must first install a 13Amp FCU at the house, where this cable originates, as it is an unfused spur at the moment. To add more items, it needs to be protected by a 13A FCU.

Then to wire these lights to the socket, you need an FCU with a 3 or 5amp fuse in it, then run 1.0mm² cable on to what you want

All this comes under part p,

Part P can be avoided by simply plugging the lights into the socket in the shed, and not fixing the lights to anything . . .

OOI, you will "keep trying" what????? guesswork at how to wire it up?

ban-all-sheds · 2 Dec 2005

arthurbear said:
Thank you for your quick response,I have run the power directly from a mains plug in the house,i have already got the lights working from the shed plug socket but i wanted to use an outside switch instead of going into the shed and turning them on,how do i run the power from the shed to the switch to the lights?or cant this be done.cheers

Yes it can be done, but the fact that you don't even know if it can, let alone how to do it is a pretty good indication that at this point on the learning curve you should not be attempting external electrical work.

Also, as Breezer said, if you insist on making this a fixed installation of garden lighting it becomes notifiable work, so you'll have to break the law or stump up the LABC fee. And with your level of knowledge I'd not be sanguine about the work being up to scratch...

ban-all-sheds · 2 Dec 2005

arthurbear said:
no i think you have got it all wrong,i have run a feed from the mains that goes to a plug socket in the house.I will keep trying.cheers

I hope the circuit is RCD protected...

And what sort of cable runs between the house and the shed? What size is it? How long is it? What route does it take? What physical protection does it have? Do you have a TN-C-S supply, and if so should you have exported the earth?

JohnD · 2 Dec 2005

Arthur, as one DIY householder to another, can i say that a lot of the people on here are qualified electricians, and they tend to get upset if they hear about non-conforming and dangerous installations, it tends to get their backs up.

I'm not one myself, as I say, but have met some including those who have had to go to fatal accidents and report to the coroner, so can understand why you are likely to find they get prickly, especially if they get the impression that you are disregarding their experience and advice.

No offence, just a friendly word

arthurbear · 2 Dec 2005

thanks to all that have responded to my query,i dont want to upset anyone here in this forum by asking stupid questions,i am aware of the dangers involed,But could i just get the answer to one more question.Thanks

Say for example you have a 5 metre long cable ( with normal live,neutral and earth wires enclosed) and at the end of that cable there is a light bulb (just like a floor standing lamp)that light is permently on.How do you break the cable mid way so you can turn that light blub on and off (just like a lamp)
Thanks aload guys and i will pay attention to your advice.

Steve · 2 Dec 2005

arthurbear said:
Say for example you have a 5 metre long cable ( with normal live,neutral and earth wires enclosed) and at the end of that cable there is a light bulb (just like a floor standing lamp)that light is permently on.How do you break the cable mid way so you can turn that light blub on and off (just like a lamp)
Thanks aload guys and i will pay attention to your advice.

you need to add a switch. With a normal switch, you continue the neutral and connect the lives to the switch. So the live ONLY is connected to the switch. Earth may connect to the box or terminal blocks.

arthurbear · 2 Dec 2005

Thanks aload Crafty1289,you win the prize and go to the top of the class,New the answer was simple (just like me)cheers

ban-all-sheds · 2 Dec 2005

You interrupt it with a switch, of course. So it seems you can't even visualise what a switch does....

Electrical work is not something to do on the basis of "insert brown wire into terminal L1" type of instructions without fully understanding why, and how it works, and what is going on.

So a friendly word from another DIY householder, please learn a lot more before you try doing things.

There's a list of useful books here: //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=75416#75416 - you should get at least the first four.

And there's here of course.

These are also very useful:

http://www.kevinboone.com/electricity.html

http://www.kevinboone.com/domesticinstallations.html

http://www.kevinboone.com/cableselection_web.html

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/1.1.htm

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/index.html

breezer · 2 Dec 2005

The thing is arthurbear, do you know what unprotected cable can do?
have you seen what happens to it when the elemnts get at it over time, have you seen some one chop through a live cable (accident or otherwise)

you probaly think we just want money for ourselves, or its earier than we make out, which ever you think you are wrong.

The point is from what you have said that you have done it is dangerous and iresponsible.

What do you do for a day job? could you teach some one to do what you do in 5 minutes as good as you do? I think not, the reason is it takes time and practice to do something well as well as the right tools and equipment, and understanding why i bet you have a neon tester screwdriver dont you

one more thing, can you save a life of some one who is being electocuted? remember electricty has no prejudices, it kills any one

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power to my shed and garden

breezer

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