Help Identifying Electrical Item In House

[albaPhenom]

So in this new place we bought, there is a strange piece of electrics in the hall stairway.

At the top of the stairs we have this switch socket with an led, the fuse is removed and the led doesn’t appear to come on if I flip the switch.



A cable runs from this behind some trunking down the straight set stairs to the ground floor and disappears under the floorboards



Excuse the boggin skirting boards, these are about to be stripped off along with the wood chip.

I’ve no idea what this is for, it doesn’t seem to operate anything in the house and I assumed it was part of an old defunct alarm system which was installed when we bought the place but then it doesn't seem connected to the system.

The gubbins for that beast live under the staircase. I’ve deactivated it and removed the battery and fuse. I still need to strip out a load of cables from it and remove the box .... I’ll add a photo of that stuff for info just in case it’s relevant.



That grey cable from the alarm fuse box seems to re-emerge in the corner at the foot of the stairs and heads up through the ceiling/floor to the loft space. I always assumed this was the cable for the external alarm bell.

Anyway, any help is much appreciated.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Looks like it was installed for a stair lift.

 

[albaPhenom]

Looks like it was installed for a stair lift.

Oh really?

It was an elderly fella that lived here previously, it's quite a narrow staircase and I can't spot any signs of fixings points for it on the wall.

Where would that cable be headed off to and would it be simple enough to remove this stuff?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It was an elderly fella that lived here previously, it's quite a narrow staircase and I can't spot any signs of fixings points for it on the wall.

Some fix to the actual step. The white cable seems to run along the wall, up the stairs to feed the unit - if that is correct, pull the white out down to the ground floor and down through the hole in the floor - or cut it off. Do make sure it is really dead, before touching it!

I am not convinced the white unit in your third photo has anything to do with the above - maybe take the cover off and post a photo of the inside. The thin cables out the bottom suggest telecomms perhaps.

 

[albaPhenom]

Some fix to the actual step. The white cable seems to run along the wall, up the stairs to feed the unit - if that is correct, pull the white out down to the ground floor and down through the hole in the floor - or cut it off. Do make sure it is really dead, before touching it!

I am not convinced the white unit in your third photo has anything to do with the above - maybe take the cover off and post a photo of the inside. The thin cables out the bottom suggest telecomms perhaps.

Yeah I think you're right tbh, the fused switch is from a stair lift and the white box is for the alarm system, those thin wires are all heading off to various detectors on windows and motion sensors in the hall. I've torn most of them off and cut the wires. The thick grey cable to the fuse next to the white box, I'm assuming that's the power supply for the alarm system?

Oh btw, it most certainly isn't dead although I almost was when I tried to disconnect the TE cable with the power on.

Why you leave it to the pros, right?

 

[albaPhenom]

Some fix to the actual step. The white cable seems to run along the wall, up the stairs to feed the unit - if that is correct, pull the white out down to the ground floor and down through the hole in the floor - or cut it off. Do make sure it is really dead, before touching it!

So if I switch the power off, cut the cable just above where it exits the floor boards, wrap it in PVC tape and poke it down through the hole to the floor space. Is this a safe enough option even though there's power going through that cable?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

So if I switch the power off, cut the cable just above where it exits the floor boards, wrap it in PVC tape and poke it down through the hole to the floor space. Is this a safe enough option even though there's power going through that cable?

No, you need to trace it back to the source and isolate it from there. Best to remove the cable completely, all the way back, unless you maybe have an alternative use for it - maybe an extra socket in the hall?

 

[albaPhenom]

No, you need to trace it back to the source and isolate it from there. Best to remove the cable completely, all the way back, unless you maybe have an alternative use for it - maybe an extra socket in the hall?

Yeah I suppose that's fair enough, don't want some unsuspecting person discovering it in the future.