outdoor lighting

[tandal]

I want ot put two outdoor lights in my garden, but want to be able to switch them on and of from inside. Can I get elctricity from an existing socket and install a seperate light switch and then run the wires to outside?

Also, can I do the same thing to put in an outdoor waterproof socket?

any help would be much appreciated.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I want ot put two outdoor lights in my garden, but want to be able to switch them on and of from inside. Can I get elctricity from an existing socket and install a seperate light switch and then run the wires to outside?

Yes, but you must use a fused connection unit, not a direct connection to a socket circuit. So you might as well use a switched FCU, and thus not need a separate light switch. Wire in 2.5mm² to the FCU and then with suitable cable (take into account the rating of the fuse, the load, how long the cable is, and where it is) to the lights. Unless they are humongous, 3A fuse in the FCU.

All this assumes that the socket to which you are connecting is not a spur.

Also, can I do the same thing to put in an outdoor waterproof socket?

If you are spurring off the ring, not an existing spur then you don't need an FCU. The best solution though is to make the new socket part of the ring rather than a spur.

If the socket circuit does not already have RCD protection, then fit an RCD socket, e.g.

 

[plugwash]

cheaper to use a RCD FCU indoors and this also gives you a point to turn off the outdoor socket (which is usefull to stop people stealing leccy)

The rcd masterseals are bloody expensive.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

cheaper to use a RCD FCU indoors and this also gives you a point to turn off the outdoor socket (which is usefull to stop people stealing leccy)

The likelihood of that depends on what access to the socket is like, surely? I've got one in my porch which is switched from inside, but the one on my patio isn't..

The rcd masterseals are b****y expensive.

So are Mercedes.

 

[securespark]

The similarity being they have both gone downhill in the quality stakes in recent years. Let's face it, MK are not reducing the price of their accessories out of their own pocket, are they?

Take three accessories as examples. One is a pendant set branded MK, but made in the far east and available elsewhere for 69p. The other is the logic plus rocker switches, recently redesigned with all terminals in line and very cheap and nasty they look, too. The third is the dimmer range. They used (the old Logic, that is) to have fuses, a brilliant idea. But now they don't, and MK print a warning that it is the consumer's responsibility to ensure that the lamps connected to their dimmers are fused, otherwise the dimmer will evaporate. Can you imagine anyone bothering to check that the lamps they buy are fused?

No, sorry Ban, but MK have gone down the pan in the quality stakes. That's not to say ALL of their gear is of lesser quality, but more and more of it is being redesigned to make it cheaper, and thus less durable.