MK2056 Base with neon - no instructions

curium · 29 Aug 2018

Hi

I have an inline fan with built-in timer in the shower room. It's very quiet and this causes confusion as to whether it is on or running on the timer. The pull switch has no indicator and we have had the fan left on all day as a result of this confusion.

I bought an MK2056 base with built-in neon. Apparently I can use this base with the existing 1-way pull cord switch for the extractor fan.

The base has arrived with no instructions and a pair of tails for the LED indicator.

I used my multimeter on the diode setting to try and determine the polarity of the indicator but either way around gives me no sound and a reading of 1.

Is the indicator DOA or is there more going on here than my GCSE electronics can fathom (highly likely).

I had assumed that I just needed to connect the tails from the indicator to the live and neutral of the ~~supply~~ load side of the switch.

Advice gratefully received thanks.

EFLImpudence · 29 Aug 2018

curium said:
I bought an MK2056 base with built-in neon. Apparently I can use this base with the existing 1-way pull cord switch for the extractor fan.
The base has arrived with no instructions and a pair of tails for the LED indicator.

If it is a neon then it will have no polarity. It does say neon on the advertising.
An LED obviously will (Light Emitting Diode)
Just requires wiring between the load Switched Line(live) and Neutral although a Neutral might not be present at the switch.
If not then you will require an extra conductor between the power source and the switch.

I used my multimeter on the diode setting to try and determine the polarity of the indicator but either way around gives me no sound and a reading of 1.Is the indicator DOA or is there more going on here than my GCSE electronics can fathom (highly likely).

No good as it is a neon.

I had assumed that I just needed to connect the tails from the indicator to the live and neutral of the ~~supply~~ load side of the switch.

Yes, If your switch is only single pole then there will be no load side neutral.

Photos of wires and switch terminals will help.

curium · 29 Aug 2018

Cheers for the reply @EFLImpudence

I have attached photos.

There are only supply and load live conductors in the switch. The other cores are not connected apart from the earths. I can connect the neutral core to the load side of the switch and then connect the neon to the load also. Will that do it?

Pull_Switch

curium
29 Aug 2018

shower room pull cord switch for extraction fan with timer

MK2056_Base

curium
29 Aug 2018

MK2056 Base with neon indicator

EFLImpudence · 29 Aug 2018

Are the Blue, Black and Grey not connected to anything or each other?

It looks like a Double Pole switch so you could do it. That seems a strange way to have done it.

There must be a junction box somewhere - in the loft? or it's connected to the ceiling rose.

curium · 29 Aug 2018

EFLImpudence said:
Are the Blue, Black and Grey not connected to anything or each other?

It looks like a Double Pole switch so you could do it. That seems a strange way to have done it.

There must be a junction box somewhere - in the loft? or it's connected to the ceiling rose.

There's a WAGO box in the loft that splits the live into permanent live for the fan and switched live (2 core and earth) which comes to the pull switch.
There's a 3-core and earth with just the brown core connected to the load side of the switch which goes back to the WAGO box
Then a 3-core and earth from the WAGO box to the fan.

I'm thinking I could connect the black core from the 3-core and earth to the neutral on the load side (I'll put some blue sleeving on it) and then connect that to the neutral connector in the WAGO box. I can then also connect the neon tails to the neutral and live on the load side of the pull switch.

That should be okay?

EDIT: Just thinking about this and thought maybe better to connect the black core to the neutral on the supply side (other end to neutral in the WAGO box) and the neon tail to the live and neutral on the load side.

EFLImpudence · 29 Aug 2018

Yes, that sounds ok.

ban-all-sheds · 29 Aug 2018

It's a neon

securespark · 30 Aug 2018

Yes?
Your point is?

ban-all-sheds · 30 Aug 2018

curium said:
I bought an MK2056 base with built-in neon.
.
The base has arrived with no instructions and a pair of tails for the LED indicator.

I used my multimeter on the diode setting to try and determine the polarity of the indicator but either way around gives me no sound and a reading of 1.

EFLImpudence said:
If it is a neon then it will have no polarity. It does say neon on the advertising.
An LED obviously will (Light Emitting Diode)

curium said:
A photo showing a neon

yorkspark · 31 Aug 2018

curium said:
EDIT: Just thinking about this and thought maybe better to connect the black core to the neutral on the supply side (other end to neutral in the WAGO box) and the neon tail to the live and neutral on the load side.

Black hasn’t been neutral since 2006, in a 3c and earth you use the grey as neutral sleeved blue

Apart from that then you’ll be good to go

ban-all-sheds · 31 Aug 2018

yorkspark said:
in a 3c and earth you use the grey as neutral sleeved blue

You don't have to....

yorkspark · 31 Aug 2018

ban-all-sheds said:
You don't have to....

Just because you ‘can’ doesn’t mean you have too.
Gven that a grey conductor is available and is the correct core to sleeve blue, why would you not use it?

EFLImpudence · 31 Aug 2018

We've had this before - Sparkwright strongly agrees with you.
He quotes the physical order in the cable as one reason for this but I do not know if there is a reason for the former R/Y/B order where blue sleeved black was used as neutral.

However, the fact is any colour, correctly sleeved, may be used for anything.
You say Grey is the correct colour to sleeve blue; this is simply not true.

My own view is that it doesn't matter - but if I were connecting harmonised cable to old Red and Black, where Black IS the neutral then I would continue the neutral in Black. I can see no reason not to do this. Indeed, not doing it would be illogical.

EFLImpudence · 31 Aug 2018

Another point is that because it will never be known how the previous installer thought, you will always have to check to make sure so it doesn't really matter what your own preference is.

ban-all-sheds · 1 Sep 2018

EFLImpudence said:
if I were connecting harmonised cable to old Red and Black, where Black IS the neutral then I would continue the neutral in Black. I can see no reason not to do this. Indeed, not doing it would be illogical.

Would you continue to sleeve whatever you had used as line, red?

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MK2056 Base with neon - no instructions

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