lights off socket circuit

[carel]

Hi,

I want to add two external lights to the outside of my home. One with a motion censor at the front and a 500W flood light at the back. Both these lights will be fitted on the outside of the storm porch. Currently the storm porch has a light on a two way switch, with the switch inside the house. There is also a wall socket on the inside of the storm porch.

The easiest way for me to wire this would be to get power from the wall socket (There was a light on the front of the storm porch, which I want to replace, that was wired this way). I am not sure whether this would meet the regulations' requirements as I would think that lights should go on the lights' circuit. I'd prefer this method though, because it will save me a lot of effort.

The alternative is to get power from the switch inside the house, but this will involve burying the cable in the plaster, which i rather would not do. I could also try to get a cable through the conduit that connects the current storm porch light to the switch inside the house, but it doesn't look like there is space for an additional cable.

Any thoughts / advice?

Thanks
Carel

 

[Adam_151]

You can connect it to a socket as long as

1) You go via a fused connection unit (FCU) with appropiate fuse
2) The socket is not a spur itself
3) You connect the FCU to the socket with 2.5 cable (not flex)

You should use artic grade flex outside, but it must not be burried under plaster etc inside, and must go to a cordgrip, I think you can get FCUs that are also flex outlet plates?

 

[andy]

external lights dont have to go on a lighting circuit. especially 500W flood lights since that will cause nuisence trippin