Do i need earth?

[festive]

I wired up some led lighting to my cupboard doors provided simple circuit below to illustrate as each door opens, the leds switch on.

Had a local sparky inspect to ensure all was well and advised me it needed redoing as the earths are not connected on the mains side. S1,2,3 represent 3 cupboard switches in parallel.

Now i am confused as the earth has nowhere to go, the circuit is purely switching ie all insulated switches have no earth connection, neither does the LED transformer?

Please see below diagram i knocked up and photos illustrating current state plus you can see one of the cupboard switches in the photo. I have left earth tails up to illustrate they are not connected.

TIA

 

[bernardgreen]

If there are "earth" conductors ( CPCs ) in the cables then they must be connected to each other and the CPC in the cable bringing power must be connected ( directly or via other lighting cables ) to the "earth" in the consumer unit.

If there is no provision to terminate / join the CPCs then you need to provided one by adding a terminal block.

One reason is that you or someone else may change switches for switches that do need an "earth".

 

[JohnW2]

Had a local sparky inspect to ensure all was well and advised me it needed redoing as the earths are not connected on the mains side. S1,2,3 represent 3 cupboard switches in parallel. ... Now i am confused as the earth has nowhere to go, the circuit is purely switching ie all insulated switches have no earth connection, neither does the LED transformer?

Your photos are not showing up, other than as icons - can you try re-posting them?

What sort of cable have you used? Even if there is currently nothing to connect an earth to, regulations require that an earth is run to every point in mains wiring, not the least in case that, in the future, something is installed there which does need an earth.

Kind Regards, John

 

[OwainDIYer]

The earths must be connected together and sleeved with green/yellow sleeving.

The grey cable sheath must be continued inside the junction boxes.

The cables should be clipped outside and adjacent to the junction boxes so they can't be pulled out of the connections exposing bare live ends.

Why not use a single 4-terminal box which will be neater and hold all the connections you need?

 

[EFLImpudence]

I can see the pictures -

 

[JohnW2]

I can see the pictures -

As I said, I can see those icons (which is all I'm seeing them as), but nothing happens when I click on them. Are you saying that you can actually see the pictures?

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

Yes. Your Spectrum ZX needs updating.

 

[JohnW2]

Yes. Your Spectrum ZX needs updating.

How odd. If that's the case, it only needs updating in relation to this one thread. Maybe a re-boot is called for - that cures an awful lot of problems. Watch this space!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Yes. Your Spectrum ZX needs updating.

Ah - reboot not required. It's down to Chrome's over-obsessive interest in 'security'. I hadn't noticed that this tab had popped up when I clicked on the image icons ...

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

Ah. Mine must be less secure than yours.

The pictures are even visible to me in your quote saying you can see those icons.

 

[EFLImpudence]

What about?

 

[JohnW2]

Ah. Mine must be less secure than yours.

Seemingly. What browser are you using? Strangely, I've just tried with IE, and again see exactly the same (just icons).

The pictures are even visible to me in your quote saying you can see those icons.

Yes, it occurred to me after the event that I was probably cluttering up the thread with pictures, as far as most people were concerned. Just to confirm what I was seeing:

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

What about?

That's fine. Thanks.

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

Just using Chrome. I have no idea about the intricacies involved.

 

[JohnW2]

What about?

That diagram takes the "transformer debate" to a whole new level, since we see the standard 'symbol' for a wire-wound transformer being used for something which is converting AC to DC (as well as changing voltage)!!

Kind Regards, John