Recent content by mrsplodge

OK, so just a 90 degree branch (not 92.5 degree to make it easier to go upstream), and a screw cap or something on the branch? Can you get branches which accept slip couplings on both ends? I can only find ones which have either a socket and spigot, or two sockets. It would be easier with a...

It's PVC pipe

I have a 1970s house which has started developing some cracking, so the first thing we did was organise a drain survey to make sure the drains are OK. The problem is, the survey was unable to access the section of the main drain under the house where the cracking is. The soil pipe runs up...

What's stopping you installing the cheaper one? Or are you asking what the difference is? The K10 is a battery powered smoke + CO alarm. The K4 is a mains powered, interconnected (so will also cause other interconnected alarms to sound at the same time) CO only alarm with a battery backup...

I might be wrong here, but aren't the levers for releasing the wire? As in the connectors are just push fit. Make sure there's enough exposed copper on the cable, then push it all the way into the terminal without pressing the lever. The cable should then be gripped and you can do the next one...

What's the other end screwed to? I'd be tempted to leave the earth attached to the bar and keep the bar fixed somewhere out the way if that's easy. Or even if you're super lucky the bar might be able to be screwed to that top screw on the new fitting. Or just snip the earth and terminate it in a...

I'm planning on LED strips around our living room and want something similar (addressable RGB + W). I think I found some on AliExpress when I was looking before, but the project is on hold for a bit. If you find any that work well, please post back here to let us know which ones.

Sounds like dot and dab. If it is, the plasterboard will be attached to the wall with blobs of adhesive, which leaves a hollow gap between the plasterboard and solid wall in most places.

Could be that the first was going to run a new outdoor lighting circuit from the consumer unit and the second was going to take the feed of the existing downstairs circuit. If the lights are going all around the house, then it's possible there'd be an easy way to get a new circuit from the CU as...

Did you take any pictures of the wiring before you disconnected them?

Just to clarify - on those terminals one side is connected to the other, so put each cable in a separate terminal along one side of of the block, and leave the other side empty. If you put one cable in one side and another in the terminal opposite, it'll connect those two cables together.

Can you trace the cable from the low level lighting outside? If you can find where that goes, it might be easier to add a junction box outside with a L+N from the lighting circuit, then the cable to the switch could be used as the L+SL.

Have you tried just the thick ones in the switch?

Actually, thinking about it, it might not explain the behaviour.

Was it working before? If it was, how was it wired? My guess would be that the thin wires are switched live from your light, and so the thin blue should be sleeved in brown, and the thick ones are live + neutral and so need to be connected to a supply. I think this would also explain the...