Outdoor Christmas Lighting

Joined
30 Nov 2010
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Country
United Kingdom
Hey All,

I've been informed by better half that I will be braving the elements this Saturday to put up our outdoor Christmas light display.

In previous years its been a case of running the cables through an ajar window and plugging into a 6 way socket, normally resting on the window cil.

As we now have a few more lights, I think a bit more thought it required....

I am thinking of purchasing an IP65 junction box, and hard wiring the lights into this, on the other end will be a long cable that will plug in somewhere in the garage, with a circuit breaker.

Is this Ok? Effectivley splitting the power 6 ways at the junction box, sourced from 1 standard mains socket? What sort of load can I put on this without causing problems?

Any advice much appreciated! I did look for a housing that would take 2 x 6 gang mains socket blocks, but no luck there.

Any help/advice much appreciated.

Cheers,

Simon.
 
Sponsored Links
So all your outdoor lighting is 230V?

I would have thought you could get 2 socket strips into something this size?

SMWP401.JPG


If not, use 2 of them.

The problem with your plan is that you'd need the fuse to be capable of taking the entire load, but that might be too large for the cables on each individual set of lights. Plus any fault on one set will take out the entire lot, and you won't be able to know which one is faulty until you disconnect them all from the JB and try them one at a time.

Presumably they will all be RCD protected?
 
Thanks for the reply - That looks perfect!
Link to product, for anyone else viewing this:
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SMWP401.html
(Although I'm off to B&Q in a bit, fingers crossed they'll do them)

They won't unfortunatley be RCD protected, as in a consumer unit, as our garage has a (very) old fashioned fuse box (Dont worry - House has a consumer unit!)

However...I will put a circuit breaker on it, the plug in type - I assume this does the same job as an RCD or IS an RCD?

Thanks again :eek:)
 
They won't unfortunatley be RCD protected, as in a consumer unit, as our garage has a (very) old fashioned fuse box

You'd be better off replacing the socket(s), or at least one of them, with an RCD one then you can't forget to use it, or lose it, or drop it and damage it....
 
Sponsored Links
FFS.

OK, ****, would you please provide a logical, rational, intelligent and mature explanation of why I should not have said that an RCD socket is better than a plug-in RCD adapter for the reasons I stated?

I mean - surely you must be able to argue logically, rationally, intelligently and maturely against my reasons, or you wouldn't have said that my post shouldn't have been made.

No?
 
Sorry, you've lost me there!

I didn't state that your post shouldn't have been made - I was in fact greatful for the advice.

I merely queried if an plug in circuit breaker does the same job as a consumer unit - Which I suspect it does, but wanted to check.

Apologies for any un-intended criticism.
 
No, SMH - I wasn't talking to you - I was addressing the **** who is going round giving thumbs down to posts of mine for no valid reasons whasoever. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
 
No prob - Theres always one ****!
(Bet I get a thumbs down to my posts now!)
 
Another option to consider for another year, is that the vast majority of outdoor christmas lights are 24V SELV, I have a 300va 12-0-12 toraidal transformer from an electronics parts supplier built into a weatherproof enclosure, you can then run from this to a small box that has suitable connectors for your lights (normally 2.1mm power jacks, also from electronics supplier), this avoids the mass of 4 gang extension leads that otherwise occurs, just watch the loading, 300va will do a fair few lights, but bigger displays will exceed that, a plug in power meter on the supply side is ideal
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top