Correct way to terminate lighting cable

[SteveStoke]

Hi,
Bit of a novice question I know but....

Replacing the ceiling rose in my hallway, and upon opening the old fitting, I found 1 of the Circuit cables and the Switch cable were correctly connected but the second circuit cable was not connected to anything and just left dangling inside the ceiling rose (bare wires et al). I'm guessing the disconnected cable was part of an old circuit not needed anymore?

I replaced the rose as planned, and I've pulled unconnected cable up through the ceiling (under the upstairs floorboards). Rather than leaving it with bare wires, I figured it would be safer to terminate the cable in a 30A rated strip connector and then put this inside a Choc-box thing under the floorboards. Is this the correct thing to do or is there a better method of terminating this calbe. I figured, if the cable was live, its now safer than it was, and if its not it doesn't matter. Advice please?

Thanks

 

[EFLImpudence]

Better than nothing but not acceptable to have junction boxes or similar hidden under floorboards. Is there somewhere where there used to be a light where the other end may be?

Is there any way you could find out if it is live. Do you have a meter with which you can test it? Could you connect a light to it temporarily?

 

[1john]

You could have put all the unused conductors into the earth terminal.

 

[EFLImpudence]

You could have put all the unused conductors into the earth terminal.

Might go BANG when he turns on something

 

[LearningSpark]

If you are sure the cable is no longer required then the best thing to do is trace the cable back to where it originates, disconnect it and remove it totally.

 

[RMS]

The chances are the cable is no longer in use.

If stripping the cable out is going to cause major disturbance or allot of hard work then I would just terminate the cable into a suitable joint box.

Its better than leaving it as it is. Nobody likes the thought of bare cables lurking about in an electrical installation.

 

[RF Lighting]

If I can't remove a cable I just twist the ends of all the wires together.

 

[securespark]

Then it will definitely go BANG!

 

[plugwash]

Presumably the idea is that by twisting the conductors together if someone does reconnect power to the other end it trips the breaker rather than leaving a live cable buried in the wall.

 

[RMS]

But surely all relevant testing would be carried out on the cable before putting it back into service?

 

[SteveStoke]

Thanks for your comments Chaps.

I was trying to avoid having to get all the floorboards up in the bedroom to trace this one cable but I think its worth doing for peace of mind.

It sounds like what i've done with terminating it into a strip connector and a Choc-box is okay as a temporary measure.

Steve

 

[sparkwright]

Does the cable look older than the other ones? Could be an old one that wasn't removed.

Or something has been disconnected.

Or it's for future use.

If you have room in the rose, you could leave the cable inside, with connector blocks on the end. The problem you have is
1. If you leave it in the rose it could get connected back up by someone who doesn't know what they are doing.
2. If you leave it under the floor you may later realise what it is, and to connect it you will have to lift the floor again.

Either way I wouldn't worry too much. You have done right to terminate the bare ends.