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  1. R

    Installing new light fixture

    There are two T&E cables with one red wrapped in brown tape and both earths twisted together. These earths need to stay connected.
  2. R

    Bubbly ol capacitor - opinions?

    Also an extremely common value, especially in switching mode power supplies.
  3. R

    Installing new light and switch

    If this is indeed permanent live, neutral and earth, I‘d run T&E from here to the new switch and another length from the switch to the new light. That has two advantages: - You have a neutral at the switch, which means you could uograd to a smart switch in the future. - You only have one cable...
  4. R

    Electricity meter needs replaced but unsure if it is RTS and/or 3 phase

    I‘d ask for them to fit an isolator. Then any electrician can sort out the T&E at a later date without messing with the meter seal. You can easily tell the difference between single phase and three phase. Single phase means four wires connected to the meter, three phase needs eight. Also three...
  5. R

    Wiring ceiling sconces and switch from a socket?

    You could see if there‘s a permanent live at the light. If not, you could bypass the switch and fit multiple kinetic switches at the curren light.
  6. R

    Wiring ceiling sconces and switch from a socket?

    You could use an FCU as the switch. 2.5 T&E from the socket to the FCU, 3 A fuse, 1 mm T&E to the lights.
  7. R

    Wiring reclaimed light

    There‘s nothing wrong with the lamp holder that I could see. The one problem might be that there‘s access to single-insulated wires when you open the light to change the lamp.
  8. R

    How to connect LED drivers to 220v suply

    It’s certainly not your responsibility to check whether the electrician has done a proper job but unfortunately sometimes even professionals can do questionable things. I don’t see why you shouldn‘t be able to use the existing flex for 12 V. If you want to do an exceptionally neat job, get some...
  9. R

    How to connect LED drivers to 220v suply

    IMO the electrician did a poor job, the flex isn‘t suitable for fixed mains wiring. The neatest way of doing this would have been to run T&E from the switch to a flex outlet and a short length of flex to the LED driver. I doubt it’s going to cause any issues though.
  10. R

    Electrics RCD Question

    So basically two accessories (cooker switch and dryer socket) melted within a fairly short period of time? That seems to suggest poor connections (that lead to overheating) or poor quality accessories. Get an EICR done and specifically ask the electrician to look for loose connections.
  11. R

    Sparking from Metal in Ground - Short?

    Is there a meter in this building or where does the supply come from?
  12. R

    How to connect LED drivers to 220v suply

    Is that flex coming out of the wall?
  13. R

    2 rcbos per room

    There's no real limit on how many circuits you can have. At some point having more circuits just becomes impractical. So yes, you can certainly do what you suggested, you'll just need a fairly substantial consumer unit and lots of cable. Generally there are two aspects of circuit planning - how...
  14. R

    Sockets on radial - extra rcd needed?

    The maximum length is the wiring to the most distant socket. Do you want the second RCD in case the one at the CU fails? You can do that but it’s usually considered unnecessary. If you insist you could have a standard RCD in a small enclosure like a garage CU.
  15. R

    Upgrading Garage Electrics

    If the tumble dryer and heat pump don’t run at the same time it should be fine. Is the garage on a fused spur? If not you‘d probably be able to run both at the same time.
  16. R

    Have you seen how Japan does grounding of appliances?

    A surprisingly large number of countries seems to consider earthing unnecessary faff. At least in Japan pretty much everything is double-insulated. I‘ve even seen a double-insulated full-sized fridge.
  17. R

    Wago connector with 0.75mm braided cable

    Soldering and heatshrink tubing would be an option too. Light manufacturers typically use closed-end parallel crimps but I don’t know where a DIYer could find those.
  18. R

    MK sockets ... Rubbish?

    Are you sure the more brittle ones aren‘t urea resin? That certainly used to be a very common material for white accessories (even back when black ones were bakelite) and for quality products still is. Budget manufacturers tend to use more flexible thermoset plastics and have been since the...
  19. R

    1960s Earthing/ Bonding question

    Why would the test button not work downstream of an ELCB? All it does is connect a resistor between L on the supply side and N on the load side (or vice versa), which always creates an imbalance that should trip the RCD. Inducing an earth fault definitely wouldn‘t have tripped the RCD if the...
  20. R

    Mains Sockets In Bathroom

    Certainly, yet most, if not all other European countries seem to be perfectly happy with sockets much closer to baths and showers than BS 7671 allows. I follow electrical discussions from Germany and the only fatalities in the past fifteen years or so were caused by a combination of ancient...
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