Changing Wall Lights

[saintpat]

I have two existing wall lights with switches. I would like to change these to non switch wall lights and change the single light switch in the room to a double switch. The wall lights are at present wired from the ceiling wiring but obviously not from the switched side.
Do I need to run an additional cable from the switch(which may not fit in the existing conduit) or is there any other way to do this?

Thanks

 

[Spark123]

It will almost certainly require additional wiring to be run in if you wish to add a switch.

 

[riveralt]

On the assumption that the ceiling rose is currently supplying the Line, Neutral and earth to the wall switch then....

You will need to have at least one cable running from the new double gang switch to the ceiling rose. You can use singles or you could replace the current T&E with Three core and Earth. At the switch use a small piece of cable to connect the Commons together and use the single or third leg of the 3 core to act as the switch live - don't forget to mark the cables with brown sleeving.

Your problem will be at the ceiling rose because you will need to connect the incoming switched live from the new double gang switch to the Line of the wall lights at the ceiling rose and there isn't anywhere on the ceiling rose to do that - so you will have to use a terminal strip to connect them and store that inside the ceiling rose cap suitably insulated from the other connections.

 

[saintpat]

Many Thanks. I'm sure I can fit the 3 core+ earth in, so I'll probably try that.
It's not actually a ceiling rose as such any more- it's the first of 4 downlights so hopefully the use of the terminal block will be easier

 

[riveralt]

Many Thanks. I'm sure I can fit the 3 core+ earth in, so I'll probably try that.
It's not actually a ceiling rose as such any more- it's the first of 4 downlights so hopefully the use of the terminal block will be easier

Just make sure the terminal blocks are in say a chockbox or other accessible jb and you connect the switch live to the line (red or brown) that goes to the wall lights - the neutral should already be returned to the terminal block.

With regards to the non existant ceiling rose - you should check on Wiki for examples of what you should find there - good luck.