I just carried out a survey.I doubt anyone has ever undertaken a survey.
100% of the two houses I inspected did not have DP switching of external lights.
I just carried out a survey.I doubt anyone has ever undertaken a survey.
Nothing more 'sub-optimal' than, say, having two RCDs in series - but we do usually advise people against such a practice (unless it is a deliberate act to provide RCD redundancy).There is not a single thing sub-optimal or incorrect about using an FCU to provide DP switching.
I'm sure that many (most?) don't.I just carried out a survey. 100% of the two houses I inspected did not have DP switching of external lights.
The same thing as having a second 'unnecessary' RCD - the 'inconvenience' associated with having two protective devices doing the same thing, so that one, the other or both may operate in the event of a fault.What's inadvisable about using an FCU?
I'm glad that the problem is solved. Dying bulbs certain can kill dimmers.Solved now. .... It's a double dimmer switch ... so I changed that one for the existing one, and everything works now.
I've certainly experienced RCD trips due to water ingress into external lights etc., but it has always been possible to reset the RCD after opening the light's SP switch.
I must say that I can't recall having previously heard of outside lights on dimmers!
I think that a 13A fuse in an accessible location operating as well as or instead of a device in the CU when an outside light has failed anyway is so unlikely to be "inconvenient" that objections are nugatory.The same thing as having a second 'unnecessary' RCD - the 'inconvenience' associated with having two protective devices doing the same thing, so that one, the other or both may operate in the event of a fault.
I can't really disagree with that, but many people 'advise against', say, having a (dedicated) RCD/RCBO at both ends of a cable supplying an outbuilding.I think that a 13A fuse in an accessible location operating as well as or instead of a device in the CU when an outside light has failed anyway is so unlikely to be "inconvenient" that objections are nugatory.
Your "current detector pen" is picking up stray voltage capacitively coupled into the cables from adjacent wiring. Inserting a lamp shorts out that stray voltage. Get a proper two-terminal voltage tester, or a multimeter,
I obviously can't argue with your experience but, as I have said, I have never experienced an N-E 'leak' due to water ingress causing an RCD to operate.I have found the opposite.
Your famous diagram assumes a 'short' (of negligible impedance) between N and E, but everything is (quantitatively) very different when the fault path (e.g. through water) has a relatively high impedance ...The problem is that the leakage Neutral to Earth through the water in the lamp is a very small percentage of the total Neutral current and thus the RCD trips when a heavy load on another circuit puts a large current through the Neutral. Time for this again..
If you tried that with new-fangled 'lamps' (CFLs, LEDs etc.), I think that the results (if any!) would be rather unpredictable.I dim my outside lamps by connecting two lamps in series
Indeed - that's what the last page or so of discussion has been about. I generally do it and advise it but, as above, am far from convinced that it's actually necessary.Why not just a double pole switch, for example
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