Installing a light in the attic

[jinja]

There is no light in the loft - it's like the Black Hole of Calcutta up there and so instead of using a torch I want to put up an overhead light with a switch close to the hatch.

This loft is part boarded, it is well insulated and there are so many angled struts it looks like a forest.

I had assumed the lighting circuit operated on a ring, but if it doesn't that's fine.

My point is, with cables all over the place up there, some diving down by the wall and some obviously going to a central ceiling rose, how do I "trace" and find which cable goes to a light switch and which goes to one of several wall lights below. Or does it matter? Can I add a junction box to the nearest cable to hand?

Any ideas how I can trap a cat that comes into our house every night and eats our cat's food?

 

[swidders]

There is no light in the loft

D'oh - you've lost me a bet!

Any ideas how I can trap a cat that comes into our house every night and eats our cat's food?

Lay chicken mesh across the floor and connect to the nearest mains outlet

 

[ColJack]

fit an electronic cat flap and put the collar on your cat.. no other cat can get in...


as for the lighting circuit, find a cable to a ceiling rose, then find the cable that goes to the next ceiling rose from that one..
unless you have a room with multiple ceiling roses, then that's the cable you want to "tap into"...

the usual way is to connect at a ceiling rose where the neutrals and permanent llives should be self explanatory..
one of the ceiling roses up there will be the last on the line, and this would be the easiest to connect to since it would have less cables..

 

[sparkyspike]

Can I add a junction box to the nearest cable to hand?

No.. Work it out logically. What you could do with is a multimeter (they're less than a tenner) - that will allow you to confirm that the cable has a permanent live and a neutral in it. Run this cable to your switch, link the earth and neutrals therein and run another cable from the switch to the light. Make sure you use the same sized cable as the on in the existing lighting circuit.

Clues: Any cables with a red or brown sleeve on a black or blue conductor is probably a switch line. You don't want to use this. If you are using a ceiling rose to pick up your feed, most probably the conductors wired into the LOOP terminal are permanently live. But you must confirm this with some kind of test equipment.

 

[MrHumbug]

s
MrHumbug, but you still have to follow the cables, which is what i said in the first place

But you need to make sure you only follow the friendly ones. Some of those cables bite!

 

[jinja]

Sorry to lose the bet for you, Sidders, but if you would like to bet that I might give myself a shock when I'm doing the wiring, you could still win. I like the idea of the chicken wire but I would need to remember not to pad around in the utility room in my bare feet.

And thank you, ColJack, that was the answer I was looking for!

 

[sparkyspike]

If you want to TRAP a cat rather than just kill it, do the following:

Keep your own cat safe for a while. Get an old guitar string (a bottom E would be best - don't want anything too sharp!). Thread the end of the wire through the eye and form a loop bigger than a cat's head, but slightly smaller than your cat flap. Hang the string on the door handle so that the loop sits nicely behind the cat flap. The cat will come in feet first, so will step through the loop. As it proceeds, the loop will tighten around its waist and it will be trapped.

If you want to be extra sure of finding the cat in the morning, jam a long flexible stick in the top of the door. Tie a piece of fishing line (about 3 feet long) onto the end, and tie another shorter stick to the other end of the fishing line, keeping it horizontal. Stretch the fishing line and tuck this horizontal bar just under the bottom edge of the cat flap, thereby lifting it up. Make sure there's good tension. Otherewise shorten the fishing line. Hang the guitar string loop from the horizontal bar. When the cat steps through the loop, it will pull the bar off the end of the flap, and the whole contraption will spring back up, suspending the cat in mid air, ready for its subsequent collection.

 

[jinja]

My thanks to you, ColJack, was for the electrical solution!! The cat I've got to catch (and give a good dunking in icy water to scare it off) - our cat would never keep a collar on.

 

[sparkyspike]

Now I've solved the cat problem, I'd like my pint please swidders. Thirsty work, all this problem solving...

 

[jinja]

Thank you Sparkyspike, I will get a multimeter. And I know all about wire nooses - I'm surrounded by farmland and thousands of rabbits, but I don't think my wife would appreciate seeing our nearest neighbour's cat suspended in the air making a horrible yowling noise in the early morning.

And Mr Humbug. What are these "friends" you keep referring to? As far as I'm concerned electricity is mighty unfriendly.

Oi, it's one o'clock. I'm off.

 

[swidders]

Now I've solved the cat problem, I'd like my pint please swidders. Thirsty work, all this problem solving...

Untitled

• swidders
• 4 Mar 2009
• 1

Untitled

• swidders
• 4 Mar 2009
• 1

A bet's a bet

 

[breezer]

cheers

 

[sparkyspike]

Cheers, I take it we're sharing........

 

[sparkyspike]

I know, I'll have the pint. Breezer would prefer a Bacardi.