Junction type box

[Diy help]

Can someone please tell me what type of junction box there is in our flats.
APX 1 year ago our building comprising of 6 flats supper a power surge. The emergency lights kicked in as they were supposed to do. When the so called electrician came to replace the battery in order that the emergency lights would work again, something happened to cause the hall and landing lights to stop working, no one can find the consumer unit or meter for these lights and can only say that next to one of the landing lights is a junction type box, but when unscrewed there are electrical components inside, for example resistors, electrolytic capacitors, a coil and other components, can someone please tell me what this is and if faulty would this be an explanation of all
the lights now not working?

 

[Iggifer]

Need much more information! A photo might help, but a list of components could mean anything!

There's been no communal lighting for an entire year? I hope you don't pay much of a management fee!!

 

[Diy help]

Hi,
No the communal lights went dead when the electrician came to replace the emergency lights battery this was 10 days ago. I will try and take a photo of this so called junction box to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about.
Many thanks though for your interest, just hope you can give me more info on this box.

 

[333rocky333]

A building of 6 flats could have a communal switchroom, that the tenants have no access, usually theres a fusebox in there.

 

[Robin0577]

If the box you're talking about contains electronic components as per your description, it's fairly unlikely to have anything to do with the lights, although it's possible. The majority of emergency lights fitted in this kind of situation would be self contained units with all the electronics within the light fixtures. More likely it's the power supply unit for a door entry system or alarm or something of that sort.

 

[Taylortwocities]

the communal lights went dead when the electrician came to replace the emergency lights battery

The obvious thing is to have this 'electrician' return and repair the fault he/she has caused.

 

[sparkwright]

What age is this building roughly?

A purpose built block of flats should have the communal mains board somewhere fairly obvious.

Of course, an ancient old house converted into flats could have it situated anywhere, even in/from someone's flat.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

When the so called electrician came to replace the battery in order that the emergency lights would work again..

Why did the battery need replacing? Did the power failure make it clear that it wasn't holding a proper charge?

 

[Diy help]

Many thanks to all that have replied to my question. In a nutshell when the power surge happened the emergency lights came on as they should of done but as these lights are powered by their battery, the battery went flat. This required the emergency lights to have a replacement battery fitted, it's at this point the main hall and landing lights had no power. Don't know what the electrician did or did not do but these lights were working fine before he came to replace this emergency light battery pack.we have had 4 electricians so fat and none of them can find any cable going to a seperate consumer unit/ meter. I have now taken photos of this so called junction box in the hope that someone knows what it is. The door intercom system works from a separate unit a transformer? mounted near the front door which is wired into a non switched fcu. There is no alarm system except for the hard wired fire alarm system which is powered and distributed from its own power panel.
The light in the photo is one of the landing lights and NOT one of the emergency lights. I have checked inside the loft and can advise that wires going into this junction box lead from the light switch to the light, from the actual light itself to the junction box and then lead from this box to one of the emergency lights, just thought I would mention this to give as much info as I can.
Many thanks - Hoping for a

 

[Echo the husky]

That circuit in the photos is just a timer for the stairway lights, I assume the light switches are the retractive type? What sort of fittings are the emergency lights? Very old flats may have just a single unmetered fuse coming off the incoming supply for the communal lights. Where did this battery go?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Many thanks to all that have replied to my question. In a nutshell when the power surge happened the emergency lights came on as they should of done but as these lights are powered by their battery, the battery went flat. This required the emergency lights to have a replacement battery fitted

They have rechargeable batteries.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Indeed. When he had replaced the battery he must leave it to charge for a day. Then he must carry out the required 3 hour test to ensure the light remains on for that time.
Then he must complete the log book to document the repair and to confirm the emergency lights are compliant.

Did he do all (any) of that.

But as I said above: he messed it up, he must fix it.

PS my guess is there is a test switch somewhere that has been left in the lights test (off) position…

 

[Diy help]

Apparently when the new emergency light/battery unit was replaced he said there was no power, so no, no actual testing took place. Not sure when this property was converted into flats, but presume that even in the 70's / 80's it was illegal to install a fuse box inside the loft? No one can seem to trace where this power source is coming from but looks logical that it must come off or come inside via one of the flats. Have uploaded a photo of the new batery/ light that was fitted and also a photo of the old type emergency light jobs just in case it helps. Failing all else it's down to the housing association to sort out.

 

[Taylortwocities]

it's down to the housing association to sort out

I would have thought that would be the case right from the start!

 

[winston1]

Not sure when this property was converted into flats, but presume that even in the 70's / 80's it was illegal to install a fuse box inside the loft?

Never assume.
I know of no law, even now, that says it is illegal to install a fuse box inside the loft. There are many FCUs (a form of fuse box) in lofts.