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Fine by me. So I just ask for a socket with a shallower back on it? No special names or anything?

Hi guys, I have a socket in my house - above the kitchen cupboards - which was never screwed in to the backbox (I know, shocking!) It never previously bothered me, but I went up there to screw it in the other day and realised why it was never done - the backbox is not deep enough to...

Hi PrenticeBoy, No, there is no RCD protection anywhere in this house. It's just a peace of mind thing really, if any piece of equipment on the workbench is ever faulty I'd rather have the additional protection of an RCD. :)

Guys, I spend a lot of my spare time building and hacking gadgets and tinkering with electronics in general, so I've decided to build a proper workbench in my workshop. As part of this I want to install sockets atop the workbench; extension leads are messy and this way I can have as many...

Sounds like I'll have to go round the whole house checking sockets and junction boxes (some of them are ba*tards to get to) on Saturday, then. Idea - I may see if I can lay hands on a megger. Take it this sort of fault may well show up with IR testing?

Radioredcat> I'll check, thanks. Of course naturally they haven't flickered all night tonight :evil: :D Xr4X4> No RCD.

Ah, so you're thinking that it may actually be a low-grade short causing it from rainwater getting into something, rather than a loose connection. Good thinking :D I'll do that tonight - try turning off various circuits to see if I can get it to stop. I do have outside lights so I suppose...

Hi all, Got another brainteaser for you all. Ever since we moved into this house the lights have flickered slightly, seeming to get worse when it's raining heavily outside. All circuits are affected - lighting and sockets. Last night they were flickering pretty badly, so I decided to...

I wonder just how common badly wired rewirable plugs are with appliances? I remember we had a similar problem at my parents' place a few years ago. They phoned me up - "The dryer's stopped working - could you have a look? Oh, by the way, the plug's been getting hot for months now." :roll...

Oh right, that's OK then. Cheers :D

Hi, I've discovered something I don't like very much in my kitchen. I have some undercupboard lights connected to the lighting circuit through a normal light switch. The connection between the light and the switch is in tiny, tiny white flex (0.75mm at a guess?) and I don't fancy its chances...

Recently I have been reading up on various earthing systems, not for any real reason other than I'm interested in electrics :D My understanding is that in a TNCS system (like in my house) you have a neutral and a live from the supplier, and your house's earth is connected to the neutral at...

Although I am most definitely not a pro network installer, I do wire these things up sometimes as part of my job, and quite frankly I am surprised those terminations will carry data at all :shock: Not so much the bend radius I'd be worried about as the fact that the wires are meant to be...

Good point. Think it will need a new roof to start with. And if I do that I could just plug the lights in... :D Ok, I'll rethink. Cheers.

Hi, I have an old outdoor toilet in my back garden which the previous owner of the house ran what looks like 2.5mm SWA cable to. The cable is currently connected to a bog standard socket in the shed (which doesn't seem particularly great as it does get very damp in there) and is wired into...

I'm not a sparky, but couldn't help but notice that the OP proposes to use the 'A' range on his meter - which is for measuring current, not resistance. You must not do this - at least in the capacity in which you describe - presumably connecting the probes right across the circuit causing a...

BAS, I already had a crimper like that and it was cack - didn't make a good connection at all, especially mechanically - perhaps I was doing it wrong but the wires would pull free with little effort. I got a ratchet crimper and some uninsulated crimps from CEF, made a far nicer result :D...

Thanks for the advice all. :D

Hi, I'm not sure if I'm putting this in the right place, as I actually want them for car wiring, but I'm wondering if any of you sparkys know a good (reasonably priced) brand of ratchet crimper, and a source of uninsulated high-quality crimp terminals that will fit roughly 4-6mm multistranded...

Hi, I think I may have an electrical problem. The other day we heard a snap/crack sound a couple of times. We put it down to a failing CRT monitor which we had in the study, which we replaced (I am a computer engineer and have seen them make that noise sometimes when the HT circuitry is...