Adding Wall Lights

[Freddieboy]

Hi, I am in the process of adding 4 new wall lights to my living room, at the moment there is just one light (ceiling rose) Is it possible to chase the wall and run a cable from a pair of the wall ligts to the excisting on /off switch on the wall and then replace the switch with a new 3 on/off switch(ceiling rose/2 pairs of wall lights)

Any ideas suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[EdwardCurrent]

Hello.
I don't think your way will work . If I were cabling it I would have;

2 x T&E's from your switch to existing light.(you already have 1 )
1 x T&E from each of the 'pair'of lights to existing light. (wall lt-wall lt-existing lt).

Along with your existing LNE in/out you will be able to connect everything up in your existing fitting. Do you have a standard pendant type light' or a fitting with plenty of room to make connecting easier etc ???.

To comply with the regs I should add that the cables you are fitting should be RCD protected .

I hope this helps.

Ed

 

[333rocky333]

Is there a NEUTRAL connection at the existing switch.

if there is a black or blue cable it is not necessarily a NEUTRAL.

 

[Freddieboy]

There is a red , black and earth cable at the excisting cable, could i not just buy a light socket with 3 switches and connect accordingly? will this not work?
much appreciated your advice thus far

 

[333rocky333]

If there is only one black and that is connected into the existing switch,that is unlikely to be a neutral wire.

See

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=35550#35550

 

[Taylortwocities]

No it wont work.

At your switch you have only a live to the switch and a live that returns to the ceiling fitting when the switch is turned on. You have no neutral at the switch and you need a neutral to operate the wall light.

You would need to get the neutral from the lighting circuit to the wall lights somehow. this is what I would do:

swop the existing two core & earth cable that runs from the switch to the ceiling light with 3-core & earth. Use the 3rd core to bring the neutral into the switch box (you may need to chase this out and put in a deeper one).

Run two twin and earth cables from the switch box to each pair of lights.
Common up the neutrals in a piece of terminal block.
Connect all the earths together in the switch box
Connect all the Com terminals on the switch together to the incoming live.
Connect the three remaining wires (they should be browns!) to the three L1 terminals on the 3 gang switch.

Job done

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If there is only one black and that is connected into the existing switch,that is unlikely to be a neutral wire.

Less than unlikely...

 

[Taylortwocities]

The words "hedging" and "bets" spring to mind....

 

[Freddieboy]

ok guys, above suggestions were looked at today, problem... the ceiling rose only has a red, black and earth wire, i have a route available from the hallway ceiling rose that has many colored wires comming in and out, can i run a neutral from this to the 3-gang? if so which coluored wire do i run it from? theres red,black, blue, brown and what looks like grey? and also which terminal to i connect it to at the 3way gang?.......any advice would be much appreciated .......

 

[Taylortwocities]

Sounds like you have a lighting wiring centre hidden under the floor somewhere.

You'll need to follow the cable from the switch and/or the cable from the light and it should end up at a junction box.

Take the lid off and take a photo of the innerds.
Mark which is the light/switch wire on the pic as you may have a dozen or so wires going in there.

 

[Freddieboy]

Hi Taylortwocities, ok and run a 3 core plus earth from there to the original switch?...what was your views on taping into the neutral from the ceiling light in the hallway...

 

[Taylortwocities]

Yes, the best method is to find that junction box and replace the switch drop with 3 core&earth.

Alternatively if there is a live and neutral in the hallway, you could run a two core & earth cable to the new light switch. Use the live & neutral as feeds for the wall lights as I outlined above.

Is the hall light on the same fuse circuit as the living room light?

 

[Freddieboy]

Yes the hallway light is definately on the same circuit, it does look very busy at the fitting mind, it has hallway downstairs, hallway upstairs and another wall light all running from the 3gang switch and at the fitting there are no spare terminals to run from? would i double up a junction with the new cable? .......

 

[Taylortwocities]

If the wire will fit in the terminal.

 

[Freddieboy]

Hi guys, well i found spaghetti junction and certainly dont fancy connecting into that, however I did come accross a 13amp fused connection unit in the very near vacinity, would it be plausable to run a live, nuetral and earth from this to the 3-way gang switch for each pair of wall lights? If so would i also use the 2 live that are already there for the ceiling rose? would this work and is it within regs?......As far as i can make out there are 2 double wall sockets running off the 13amp fused connection box....much advice would be appreciated....