please i need help i have been on this for a day need help

[jim4time]

right well i have a shed at the end of my garden and i have run wiring down to it and i have two seperate double plug sockets in there i want to install some sort of lighting so i have a standard light fitting. only thing is i cant seem to get a light switch to work with it. i have run wires from the plug socket to the switch then to the light fitting it doesnt work it trips the fuse indoors. i have tried using a plug i ran cable from the plug to the switch then to the light fitting and no joy if i run cable from the plug to the light fitting it works but i really wanted to have a swith on the wall can any one help please. i would be very grateful. am i trying to do something that is impossible.

 

[sparkyspike]

Sounds like you're wiring your switch up wrong. Anyway, don't use a light switch, use a switched-fused-spur. Put a 3A fuse in it.

 

[SteAppo]

Hi

I am a DIY'er and not a spark, so get confirmation before you take my advice.

Firstly, buy one of these, few quid!

http://www.focusdiy.co.uk/content/ebiz/focus/invt/122901/122901.jpg

Use that instead of a standard switch, it will tell you how to wire in the pack.

 

[breezer]

that is a switched FCU which was mentioned, still if the Op doesn't know what one is.............

other suppliers of switched FCU are available

 

[SteAppo]

i have a diy book from b&q, shows good diagrams for wiring wall lights from one of these, same as what you are trying to do. Not sure if you need to take further advice due to it being outside.

good luck

 

[jim4time]

thanks for your help i will get one of those

 

[ColJack]

I hope you notified the LABC?

to be quite frank with you, you don't sound competent to have "run wiring down to the shed..." if you can't even wire a light switch..

 

[jim4time]

well i done it. i had messed up the wiring on the switch and it needed to be the fused sper swith thing and no i am not that competent with electric but i gave it a go and it paid off thanks to the few of you who helped out cheers. jim.

 

[RF Lighting]

Just because it works, it doesn't mean it is safe. Infact far from it...

 

[securespark]

Best to get it checked.

Is the voltage drop, load and CPD acceptable for your selected cable sizes?

Have you got RCD protection?

Have you got acceptable earth fault loop readings & correct polarity?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

well i done it. i had messed up the wiring on the switch

You messed up because you know so little about electrics that you don't even understand how current flows in a circuit, what the difference is between live & neutral, and how a switch works

and it needed to be the fused sper swith thing

It needed to be one of those for safety, not to stop it tripping the circuit breaker.

and no i am not that competent with electric but i gave it a go and it paid off

What you did was to keep trying things until you found one that stopped causing an immediate problem with the breaker.

. What type of cable have you run to the shed?
. How is it installed?
. Where does it get its supply?
. What size is it?
. What is the rating of its protective device?
. How long is it?
. Where is the RCD protection?
. Do you have a TT, TN-S or TN-C-S supply?
. Do you have extraneous-conductive-parts in the shed and have you exported a PME earth when you shouldn't?
. How have you verified continuity, polarity and fault loop resistance?

None of those questions are esoteric, or asked in order to put you down - they are all very real and very important. If you don't know what they all mean, and what the answers are then you do not know enough to have done this work.

Nor is anybody expressing concern about these things because of some secret agenda to stop DIY electrical work - I'm a DIYer myself for example, but you or someone else could die if you've got some of them wrong.