Does adding a spur from the MCB require Part P?

[Seb101]

I am fitting a video doorbell for a friend, what I thought was going to be a simple job turned out to be more complex as despite the chime box being 60 cm from the fuse box, it turns out the chime doesn’t contain a bell transformer at all and is in fact battery powered with C cell batteries.

Now, if I was able to break into a lighting circuit and take a spur off a light or a cable run, through a 3amp fused switch to the bell box and install a bell transformer, this would be in the DIY non-notifiable realm . However there is no access to any cabling from where the bell box is.

If I do the same by adding a spur from the output of a lighting circuit MCB in the fuse box (I.e. wire an additional cable into the MCB output, neutral and earth block) through a fused switch to the transformer, this is electrically the same thing, but is it now a notifiable change?

I can’t decide from reading the rules…

 

[danechip]

Sorry for sounding stupid, but what has transformers/3A/MCB/neutral/earth block/lighting circuits have to do with potatoes?

Just put the batteries in !!

 

[flameport]

New circuits are notifiable. Adding a cable to an existing one is not.
As the circuit already exists, it's not a new circuit and is not notifiable.

Just put the batteries in !!

Video doorbells generally are hard wired, as most people don't want to remove it from the wall every few days to recharge the battery.

 

[opps]

Sorry for sounding stupid, but what has transformers/3A/MCB/neutral/earth block/lighting circuits have to do with potatoes?

Just put the batteries in !!

The video door bell is unlikely to work with batteries in a chime box.

 

[danechip]

It seems that hard wiring isn't an option though..

 

[danechip]

The video door bell is unlikely to work with batteries in a chime box.

'it turns out the chime doesn’t contain a bell transformer at all and is in fact battery powered with C cell batteries'

 

[opps]

'it turns out the chime doesn’t contain a bell transformer at all and is in fact battery powered with C cell batteries'

I am assuming that the OP expected the chime box to have been powered by a transformer rather than a battery. Hence the question regarding spurs.

 

[opps]

I am fitting a video doorbell for a friend, what I thought was going to be a simple job turned out to be more complex as despite the chime box being 60 cm from the fuse box, it turns out the chime doesn’t contain a bell transformer at all and is in fact battery powered with C cell batteries.

Now, if I was able to break into a lighting circuit and take a spur off a light or a cable run, through a 3amp fused switch to the bell box and install a bell transformer, this would be in the DIY non-notifiable realm . However there is no access to any cabling from where the bell box is.

If I do the same by adding a spur from the output of a lighting circuit MCB in the fuse box (I.e. wire an additional cable into the MCB output, neutral and earth block) through a fused switch to the transformer, this is electrically the same thing, but is it now a notifiable change?

I can’t decide from reading the rules…

On occasion, I have used flex and a plug to supply the transformer.

 

[danechip]

On occasion, I have used flex and a plug to supply the transformer.

Me too.
At Christmas.
With lights on a tree.

They were NOT battery operated.

 

[danechip]

Opps. He doesn't have a transformer. He 'may' have a socket on the device to plug some connection into it bypassing the batteries.v

 

[flameport]

He doesn't have a transformer.

That's why he is going to

install a bell transformer,

 

[danechip]

Ah, I see. Twist the wire round the springs where the batteries should go. Cool !

Should be easy enough as he can connect the wires either way round, being AC and all...

 

[danechip]

So what is powering the Ring and camera? a 2032 wouldn't be up for the job.

 

[ericmark]

My mother had the door bell transformer removed and a socket installed with a wallmart transformer plugged in the feed taken for the socket taken directly from the consumer unit work done by county council social services and in spite of repeated requests for at least a minor works certificate I failed to get any paperwork.

I had asked for paperwork as the socket would not trip the RCD when the RCD tester was plugged in so seems clear on wrong side of consumer unit, however the rules at that time allowed for sockets not to be RCD protected if they were labelled for use by a single bit of equipment.

However Part P was in, and the county council by example showed what they expected. Around 2005 in North Wales.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

@Seb101 Crack on, but be aware, unless there's an isolator between meter and CU there will be live parts exposed even with the CU main switch off.
Make sure you put n and e in the correct terminals (if the MCB is 6 slots from the right, for instance, then n and e should go into their respective 6 terminals from the right). Have a look at what has already been done in there to see exactly what scheme was followed.