Re-joining fairy light wire

[localboy]

Hi. I was hoping that somebody could please give me some advice. I have some outdoor Christmas lights that I need to plug in inside the house. The wire will fit through a small hole that is already in the wall (which the satellite cable runs through). However, it will not fit through with the plug on the end. My question is if I cut the wire to pass it through, what is the best way of rejoining the wire again afterwards? Thanks for any help.

 

[plugwash]

are theese lights mains or elv?

 

[localboy]

They're mains.

 

[BS3036]

It sounds as though you are asking how to fit a plug.

I suppose the plug is sealed. The best and safest way is to cut off close to the plug and replace the plug with a non-sealed variety.

 

[localboy]

Doh! Yeah, that'd probably be the simplest thing to do Thanks.

 

[vsynth]

I remember the way my dad powered our mains fairy lights.

He stripped 2 inches of the cable outer from each wire and then wrapped the copper ends around the T.V.'s plug pins then plugged the T.V. back into the wall

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The wire will fit through a small hole that is already in the wall (which the satellite cable runs through).

Is the insulation on the satellite cable rated to at least 250V?

 

[localboy]

Well I certainly won't be trying that!

Back to my original point, what sort of plug should I be looking for? Snipping the plug off and replacing it sounds good in theory but is it really that easy - a standard plug won't do will it? At the moment the wire (very thin) reaches a sealed connector that is then plugged into an adaptor-style plug (if that makes sense).

 

[BS3036]

Don't suppose there are any words or numbers written on this 'adaptor-style plug'?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Well I certainly won't be trying that!

¿Que?

a standard plug won't do will it?

Do you have anything other than standard sockets to plug into?

 

[rebuke]

It sounds like you're describing low voltage lights rather than mains ones, where you have a connector on the end of the lights that plugs into a transformer, in which case you'd need to got to somewhere like Maplins to get an appropriate connector to rewire, and a soldering iron (or just cut with a bit of slack, and join the two wires together in a piece of choc block or whatever).

Can you post a picture of the end of the wire you're talking about, and the 'adapter' it plugs into?

 

[mattylad]

I'm no electrician but....

If it is an "adapter" style plug then chances are that the "adapter" plug bit is actually a small power supply changing the mains down to a lot lower voltage, so cutting the wires and connecting back up to an ordinary plug is going to make things go BANG!

If it is in fact a mains adapter/voltage converter/power supply then if you have plenty of cable you should be able to cut it a decent length away from the adapter and reconnect it all back together with chock block on a choc box. (available from B&Q etc).

BUT: if the cable has more than 2 wires within it (I.E. its not std figure because its a fancy set of lights that do all sorts of different flashing wotsits then you may have a bigger problem?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It sounds like you're describing low voltage lights rather than mains ones

The IEC definitions of voltage bands are:

• Extra Low Voltage: AC below 50V and DC below 120V
• Low Voltage: 50 - 1000V AC or 120 - 1500V DC
• Medium voltage: 1kV - 35kV
• High voltage: 35kV - 230kV
• Extra-high voltage: >230kV

This is not some pedantic technical point - if you start getting involved in doing your own electrical work, and start learning about regulations etc you'll come across references to "Low voltage", and it'll be no good you thinking that that means 12V...

If they are ELV then the Q above about the insulation rating of the coax cable is irrelevant, but if not then it's still awaiting an answer...

 

[rebuke]

Yes I was aware of the bands, was typing the post in a hurry, and 'low voltage' is what most of the non mains fairy lights are labelled, even though they're actually ELV...