Flickering neon

[richie4236]

I recently installed a light in our loft. I didn't want there to be a chance of the lights being left on, so I installed a switch near the hatch rather than in the loft. I selected an 20A MK one with a red neon above the switch.

I broke into the lighting ring from the bedroom nearest the switch (less than a metre away) using an MK three-terminal junction box. I went from there 10cm down the stud wall to the switch, and from the switch to single light fitting in the rafters. I used 1mm twin & earth cable on both sides of the switch. Earth from both sides connected to the earth bar in the back of the swith. The switch itself had four terminals. L1 and N1 connected to the supply side, and L2 and N2 connected to the light fitting.

Everything appeared okay. When I turned the power back on the light worked. It stays on and is consistent. Doesn't flicker or do anything weird. The neon on the other hand is erratic. If the light's been off for a while it sometimes works, but if I turn the lights off and back on the neon doesn't illuminate at all. Sometimes if I tap the switch hard it comes on or flashes and flickers. Not much use really.

I guess my questions is this: is it a dodgy switch, or have I done something wrong in the wiring? Terminals on the back of the switch appear very secure, and presumably if there was a poor connection the light would flicker when the neon does?

Really just want someone to confirm I did it right, in which case it's the switch. As far as I can see I followed the instructions to the letter.

Thanks.

 

[Iggifer]

Neons are not always the most reliable. There's not a great deal you can do besides swap the switch - I could be wrong, but I'm pretty the MK neons are moulded into the smaller switches, so you can't even just replace that/re-terminate it

Maybe take it back to where you got it from and get it swapped.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

In the ones I have seen the neon is separately wired, with very thin conductors - not always easy to get them properly trapped under the screws, particularly with a 20A switch (I assume??) and 1/1.5mm² cable.

Try using larger cable from the JB?

Or swap the switch for a 2G modular one, where you can have a switch module and an indicator one, and use decent conductors to link them.

 

[333rocky333]

Is this a grid switch, or a square plate switch.

On some plateswitches the neon has thin black wires with ferrules on the end, that just push into holes on the rear of the switch, occasionally they just need simply pushing in.

with mk grid, they do as single switch now with a neon on it the neons built in and not accesible

 

[Echo the husky]

The neon and its wires are fully enclosed and not accessible in the newer MK switches.

 

[winston1]

I broke into the lighting ring


The neon on the other hand is erratic. If the light's been off for a while it sometimes works, but if I turn the lights off and back on the neon doesn't illuminate at all. Sometimes if I tap the switch hard it comes on or flashes and flickers. Not much use really.


Thanks.

Lighting is NOT on a ring.

Neons often don't work properly in dark places (such as near a ceiling in a dark hall). Shine a torch on it and no doubt it will stop flickering. Nothing you can do about it, it is just the characteristic of neons.

 

[richie4236]

There's no way to re-terminate the neon. It's contained within the black moulded part. I've recently installed an outdoor switch which did have separate thin wires for it's power indicator light, so have seen / done this before.

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like the switch is dodgy. I'll go back to B&Q and replace it. I've lost the receipt, so will have to buy a new one. As I'm buying one, is it worth replacing it with a fused switch - as it's in the loft space?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Get another one the same (no need for a fused one anyway).

A day or so later use the receipt for #2 to get a replacement for #1 - you're not conning them, you will have paid for two switches and you are entitled to two that work..

 

[winston1]

It sounds like the switch is dodgy.

No it doesn't. The loft lights don't flicker do they?

As I said it's a charactistic of neons in dark places. Did you try shining a torch on it as I suggested?

You may find another one is no different, or you may be lucky and get one that appears OK only to start flickering a few months down the like.

 

[securespark]

It sounds like the switch is dodgy.

No it doesn't. The loft lights don't flicker do they?

Perhaps when he said "switch", he was referring to the whole unit?

 

[richie4236]

Sooooo. The unreliable neon has been resolved. It turned out to be my error. I sent the wife off to B&Q and she returned with another MK 20A switch with a neon. Slightly different model. I wired it in, again following the instructions to the letter. This time the neon stayed stubbornly illuminated. On or off, the neon kept shinning. Thinking it through, logically the neon must get it's power from the appliance side, otherwise it would be on all the time....... which is what was happening.......ooops.

I had marked the supply-side before I fed them down the stud wall, but in the time it took me to climb down the ladder I'd mixed it up and thought I'd marked the appliance side..... I traced the cables back into the loft and it turns out I'd wired the switch backwards. Swapped the cables, turned the power back on, and everything worked perfectly.

My bad. Thanks for the help.

 

[333rocky333]

If the light's been off for a while it sometimes works, but if I turn the lights off and back on the neon doesn't illuminate at all. Sometimes if I tap the switch hard it comes on or flashes and flickers. Not much use really.

Going by what you said earlier, it dont appear that you had it wired in reverse the first time, anyway glad its sorted