Plugging computer equipment into lighting circuit

[mh224]

I need to install a wireless access point in my roof space in order to get coverage all over the house. Only existing cabling there is for lights in the upper floor of the house. Any issues in connecting an electrical socket into that lighting cable for the power adapter to plug into? Wireless access point is a Linksys WRT54G V2.0 and the power adapter is model 12100BS which says on it PRI: 230V-50hz-100mA.
Thanks

 

[Steve]

POL (power over lan) would take care of this.

There are no regs that say you cant put a 13 amp plug on a lighting circuit. It is frowned upon. The worst that could happen is someone plugs a space heater into it and blows the fuse.

 

[plugwash]

if it were me i'd put a single socket (less temptation to use it for other stuff if there isn't a spare socket) in and clearly label it as being on the lighting circuit.

 

[JohnD]

You could use a Clock Connector plug and socket (seldom used now that battery operated quartz clocks are the rule) but have a small fuse inside and sometimes used for extractor fans. No other plug will fit.

 

[plugwash]

that would work if it wasn't for the fact that this kind of kit tends to use wall warts for power, so it has to be a 13A socket.

 

[JohnD]

 

[securespark]

If it's blowing the fuse you're worried about (it would be inconvenient, at least), then fit a fused spur (at 3A), and feed stuff off that.

 

[Softus]

Ditch the WRT54g and get a Netgear or Belkin MIMO wireless router instead, so you won't need to put it in the loft.

 

[sm1thson]

i would use a 3amp FCU on the socket, also these things (access points) i suspect may need a reboot every now and again!?! so i would either have a switch in the room below, or have the access point in the room below and have an exension lead on the ariel running that up into the loft.

 

[SparkyMarky]

Are you sure you'll get the wireless coverage you want by putting the router so high up? IIRC the coverage from these devices extends out from the aerial horizontally in a doughnut type shape (without the hole ). I'd have thought that with the router being so high up most of your house would be below the coverage area and have poor reception. I've got a wireless router in an office downstairs, but to get maximum reception/connection speed in one of the upstairs rooms I have to slightly angle the aerial.....

Might be worth a trial run using an extension lead to your loft before installing the socket...

 

[Softus]

Are you sure you'll get the wireless coverage you want by putting the router so high up? IIRC the coverage from these devices extends out from the aerial horizontally in a doughnut type shape (without the hole ).

"Linksys suggests that you place your Access Point as high as possible".

However, you also have to use common sense, and this doesn't mean putting it on top of a tree that towers over your house, so putting it in the loft may not provide any advantage over putting it on the top floor of the house.

 

[mh224]

so putting it in the loft may not provide any advantage over putting it on the top floor of the house.

Good point, I'll definitely try it with an extension cable first.

One reason I'm having coverage problems is that I live in old house with thick stone walls. Access point in the roof MAY mean the signal can travel vertically through the (wooden) floors rather than horizontally through multiple stone walls (some of which are 2' thick). Even so, I can see I might need multiple access points.

Ditch the WRT54g and get a Netgear or Belkin MIMO wireless router instead, so you won't need to put it in the loft.

Being a cheapskate I'll always try to get maximum value from what I've got first...

 

[Softus]

With walls like that, why on earth did you buy a wireless access point?

 

[Adam_151]

I live in a house that was orignially built in 1903, has been extended since, but the original part has some pretty thick walls, granted most of my network is cabled, but I do have an access point for the laptops, which I have located in the attic about central to the house, the signal supprisingly is pretty good in almost all of the rooms (the exception is the dining room[where the signal works sometimes, but is weak and drops out often], which is the furthest part of the original house from the WAP) and it also manages to work in quite a bit of the garden as well

 

[Softus]

the signal supprisingly is pretty good in almost all of the rooms

And which router or access point are you using?