2.5mm cable into 1.5mm ?!

[tsutton]

Hi all,

Been up in my loft to look at the electrical wiring for the first time since buying my property.

There is a single power socket for the TV aerial signal booster. This single socket has a 2.5mm cable going to a light switch for the loft light. Then from that light switch, there is a 1.5mm cable going to the ceiling light on the upstairs ceiling light.

Question: Is this a bit 'dodgy' cabling method by the previous owner??

 

[EFLImpudence]

This single socket has a 2.5mm cable going to a light switch for the loft light. Then from that light switch, there is a 1.5mm cable going to the ceiling light on the upstairs ceiling light.

That's a bit confusing; please clarify.

 

[Jurassicspark]

There is a single power socket for the TV aerial signal booster.

Okay. Nothing wrong with that. Can you see whats feeding it?

This single socket has a 2.5mm cable going to a light switch for the loft light.

Nothing wrong with that too. Assuming it's a LED light.

Then from that light switch, there is a 1.5mm cable going to the ceiling light on the upstairs ceiling light.

You mean it's feeding the upstairs light too?

 

[tsutton]

Here's my quick & awesome drawing.

All fed from the upstairs ceiling light

 

[Ragnar_AT]

Sounds fine, even though some pedants don‘t like sockets on lighting circuits. If it’s a new-ish install the socket should be RCD protected but so should the lights.

 

[tsutton]

Nothing wrong with that too. Assuming it's a LED light.

Normal bulb, But I plan to change it to a round LED to give out more light in the loft space.

 

[tsutton]

Sounds fine, even though some pedants don‘t like sockets on lighting circuits. If it’s a new-ish install the socket should be RCD protected but so should the lights.

Yes, all cabling are behind RCD.

 

[pete01]

Assuming it's a LED light.

Ay?

 

[Murdochcat]

If the cable is coming from a light fitting, then the socket would be limited to the circuit breaker protecting the lighting circuit, which would normally be 6A or 10A

Use the loft socket for low loads only is my advice

 

[tsutton]

Yes, that's my thoughts too.

So I would be better off with running a new cable from a spare socket, as I need to fit a network cabinet in the loft.

Thank you again.

 

[hllns]

Yes, that's my thoughts too.

So I would be better off with running a new cable from a spare socket, as I need to fit a network cabinet in the loft.

Thank you again.

Small network switches connecting a small number of ports aren't necessarily very high consumption, unless you're powering a server or other devices over the ethernet cabling it might be OK.

 

[tsutton]

Well... It got a PoE switch, a gateway, PI and fans. All connected to a server extension plugs. So it will be higher usage.

I'd rather play it safe a wire a new cable.

Thanks.

 

[plugwash]

While one would need to run the numbers to be sure, I strongly suspect you are fine.

6A at 230V is 1.38kW. In these days of CFL/LED lighting that draws bugger all that leaves quite a lot of spare capacity on a lighting circuit. You probablly wouldn't want to put a high end gaming PC on there but I think you would be pretty hard pressed to cause an overload with raspberry Pis, consumer/small buisiness level network equipment and similar.

 

[tsutton]

At the moment, I plan to have the following devices:

CloudKey+ = 12.95W
Lite 16 PoE = 15W (Excluding PoE output)
Raspberry Pi 5 8GB Board = approx 3W

 

[Why Not Indeed]

I assume you mean 30W for the Pi5 not 3W.
But in any case, the whole lot will draw not much more than a single old-fashioned lightbulb!