External lighting

[Hanspal]

Hi all, new to this forum, got a quick question to ask and maybe a remedy.

I've recently bought and moved into a house. The electrics are such that the kitchen sits at the back of the house with the bathroom above it. There is a door leading to the garden at the back from the kitchen.

There is a 400W floodlight above the kitchen door in the back garden with seems to be connected directly into the downstairs lighting circuit. I'm wondering if this is safe? The cable that the downstairs lighting runs on is 1.5mm t&e.

If this is not safe, how could this be put right? As the bathroom is fully fitted with a laminate floor and so to get to the to the connections underneath this flooring would be very difficult if not impossible at the moment?

 

[ericmark]

When there is a change of occupied an Electrical Installation Condition report (was called periodic inspection report) should be completed. This should highlight most faults so what does it say?

Although 400W is quite big for a lamp around 1.7A the only problem likely is the heat the lamp produces if too close to something and the permission to use it as over 150W. It would depend when fitted as to if LABC would have needed to be asked.

So likely no real problem. But you can't get an Electrical Installation Condition report over a forum it needs some one to visit your house and if you have just moved in I would have thought the solicitor would have requested one. My daughter was told it had not been done and asked by the solicitor if she wanted to wait but due to time constraints and time is money when moving house it was not done. But it is one of the things normally done even if not required by law.

 

[Hanspal]

When there is a change of occupied an Electrical Installation Condition report (was called periodic inspection report) should be completed. This should highlight most faults so what does it say?

Although 400W is quite big for a lamp around 1.7A the only problem likely is the heat the lamp produces if too close to something and the permission to use it as over 150W. It would depend when fitted as to if LABC would have needed to be asked.

So likely no real problem. But you can't get an Electrical Installation Condition report over a forum it needs some one to visit your house and if you have just moved in I would have thought the solicitor would have requested one. My daughter was told it had not been done and asked by the solicitor if she wanted to wait but due to time constraints and time is money when moving house it was not done. But it is one of the things normally done even if not required by law.

To be honest I've not been through all of the paperwork but I don't think I have a report like this?

It's one of those flood lights which switches on when something moves (has a PIR sensor on it). When the downstairs lights are on and the floodlight is switched on, the downstairs lights all dim a little. That worried me a little as I thought maybe there was too much current for the cabling to handle?

You say you need permission to use an external floodlight that is over 150W is size?

Oh and would it not be about 1.8A? Not sure if that 0.1A makes any difference?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Oh and would it not be about 1.8A? Not sure if that 0.1A makes any difference?

It depends on your supply voltage. It is nominally 230volts but could 10% more or less than this and that will change the current!

Your lighting circuit wiring is good for the 400W lamp, but 400W is a waste of energy and anti social.


Re your bathroom floor. There should not be any screw connections under there that cannot be accessed. Unless Gene Autry and his friends have galloped in there. If they are there then there is not much you can do about it.

 

[Steve]

Your lights dim because they are awful incandescent lights! Change them all for low energy and they wont dim - low energy lamps are much more tolerant of voltage drop.

Seriously though, when you draw so much energy through one cable, the voltage drops a little bit and therefore lights will dim and fans will slow down etc.

The same will happen if you have an electric shower with a large heater in it, because the main incoming supply cable voltage drops.

And I'm serious about low energy lamps - they dont get dimmer, at least not until the voltage gets a lot lower than it should be!

 

[Taylortwocities]

When the downstairs lights are on and the floodlight is switched on, the downstairs lights all dim a little. That worried me a little as I thought maybe there was too much current for the cabling to handle?

Do not worry about that. The purpose of the fuse in the consumer unit/fuseboard is to protect the cables feeding the various circuits.

You probably have a 6amp fuse on the lighting circuit. The lighting cable is probably good to carry 10amps.
If the load on the lighting circuit is too much then the fuse blows/the contact breaker trips, this will happen way before the cable feels the strain.

 

[Hanspal]

When the downstairs lights are on and the floodlight is switched on, the downstairs lights all dim a little. That worried me a little as I thought maybe there was too much current for the cabling to handle?

Do not worry about that. The purpose of the fuse in the consumer unit/fuseboard is to protect the cables feeding the various circuits.

You probably have a 6amp fuse on the lighting circuit. The lighting cable is probably good to carry 10amps.
If the load on the lighting circuit is too much then the fuse blows/the contact breaker trips, this will happen way before the cable feels the strain.

Thanks all - nice to know all is well !