1 switch to many lights

[ldoodle]

Hiya,

Our hallway/stairs/landing area just has one light fixing at the moment so I want to add a couple in dark spot areas.

How would I take the feed from the first light to all the others - is it just case of daisy chaining with T+E using only the black/blue (switched live) and earth?

That doesn't sound right, leaving the red/brown doing nothing!

Cheers

 

[martinxxxxxx]

No it doesn't sound right at all

 

[canduit]

Before installation, you could cut the red/brown wire out of the grey sheath and take it to scrap yard. This might make it easier to feed the black/blue & earth cable above the ceiling as it will now be smaller.

 

[EFLImpudence]

is it just case of daisy chaining with T+E using only the black/blue (switched live) and earth?

Yes that is correct..

That doesn't sound right, leaving the red/brown doing nothing!Cheers

They are not doing nothing. They are connected together and coming from/going to somewhere else.

 

[riveralt]

is it just case of daisy chaining with T+E using only the black/blue (switched live) and earth?

Yes that is correct..

Er no that is not correct. If you currently have the one switch and one ceiling rose then when you link the first ceiling rose to the second you connect the new cable brown to the switch live at the first ceiling rose then brown to the brown terminal at the second ceiling rose etc.

That doesn't sound right, leaving the red/brown doing nothing!Cheers

They are not doing nothing. They are connected together and coming from/going to somewhere else.

The blue cable from the first ceiling rose to the second ceiling rose should be the return neutral - don't forget to connect the cpcs (earths).

 

[EFLImpudence]

is it just case of daisy chaining with T+E using only the black/blue (switched live) and earth?

Yes that is correct..

Er no that is not correct. If you currently have the one switch and one ceiling rose then when you link the first ceiling rose to the second you connect the new cable brown to the switch live at the first ceiling rose then brown to the brown terminal at the second ceiling rose etc.

I took it the OP knew that. He wrote about connecting new cable to black and blue(switched live) which is correct.
He is referring to the existing wiring at the rose.

That doesn't sound right, leaving the red/brown doing nothing!Cheers

They are not doing nothing. They are connected together and coming from/going to somewhere else.

The blue cable from the first ceiling rose to the second ceiling rose should be the return neutral - don't forget to connect the cpcs (earths).

Yes.

 

[riveralt]

Perhaps the OP should have started by looking at Wiki...
http://www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:lighting:single_way_lighting

Scroll down to Two Lights on One Switch Using the Loop in method

 

[ban-all-sheds]

That doesn't sound right, leaving the red/brown doing nothing!

No it's not, because they shouldn't be doing nothing, and if you make it so that they are then your lights won't work.

That you even thought you might be able to do what you suggested shows that you don't have a sound understanding of some really basic stuff to do with electrical circuits, and without a solid foundation of knowledge and understanding it's a very bad idea to do electrical work - following instructions to "put this wire in that hole" without knowing why, and without knowing how it works, is to be strongly discouraged.

Of course everybody has to start somewhere, but you should start by acquiring a solid foundation of knowledge, not by diving into actually doing when you don't even know how a simple electrical circuit works.

Please spend some time learning how electrical circuits work, what switches do, etc, before having a go.

• http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=electrical+circuits+101
  
  
• http://web.archive.org/web/20080213151445/http://www.kevinboone.com/electricity.html
  
  
• http://web.archive.org/web/20080213151445/http://www.kevinboone.com/domesticinstallations.html
  
  
• http://www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:books
  
  
• http://www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics[/list]

 

[ldoodle]

God bless you BAS

Now i've seen it illustrated it makes complete sense. I was stupidly thinking about the switched live (black/blue) flowing to all other lights as the live for those lights. The actual neutral slipped my mind.

Buuuuut, is this not bad design? Surely someone working on it at a later date would see black/blue as the switched live for the first light 'joined' to red/brown of the T+E feeding all the other lights? And if they took a chained light down (anyone but the first) they would be expecting a black/blue switched live not a red/brown live?

 

[Monkeh]

No, they would be expecting a black or blue neutral and a red or brown line.

You may find this mind melting:

 

[EFLImpudence]

God bless you BAS

Don't see that too often, I hope he notices - God, that is.

Now i've seen it illustrated it makes complete sense. I was stupidly thinking about the switched live (black/blue) flowing to all other lights as the live for those lights. The actual neutral slipped my mind.

In your case the switched live is the blue - it should be sleeved with brown (or red) to indicate this. The black is the Neutral.

Buuuuut, is this not bad design? Surely someone working on it at a later date would see black/blue as the switched live for the first light 'joined' to red/brown of the T+E feeding all the other lights? And if they took a chained light down (anyone but the first) they would be expecting a black/blue switched live not a red/brown live?

It can be presumed by how they are connected. At your chained light there are no wires in the loop terminal (all the reds/browns joined but "doing nothing").
That is why you had to ask

Edit - a quote I like which I read somewhere so thanks to author:
A wire can be anything you want, they don't know what colour they are.