Strange celing rose wiring on my newish house

[jtownson]

Hi All,

I have a two year old house, and have noticed the wiring into the ceiling roses (checked 3 so far) is a bit different. The neutral wire going to the light switch is connected to the live loop. (live to neutral then live from the switch)

Is this normal as its different to the following; (live to live then netural from the switch)

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/ceilingrose.htm

Thanks

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

They are likely to be switch wires so they are live not neutral conductors, can you post pictures of them?

 

[jtownson]

The switch wire is the live (brown) wire and not the neutral (blue) just wondered why they have the other way round to normal

 

[AndyPRK]

Why did they stop selling switch wire with two reds or two browns ?

 

[vera121]

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Cable_Index/Twin_and_Earth_Brown/index.html

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

The switch wire is the live (brown) wire and not the neutral (blue) just wondered why they have the other way round to normal

No they are both switch wires, one feeding a live to switch and the other feeding live to light via switch.
no neutrals

 

[GaryMo]

Think of one conductor as a switch feed (should be brown) and the other a switch return (blue with brown sleeving).

Can you post a picture?

 

[GaryMo]

They are likely to be switch wires so they are live not neutral conductors, can you post pictures of them?

A neutral conductor is a live conductor but it isn't a line conductor

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

They are likely to be switch wires so they are live not neutral conductors, can you post pictures of them?

A neutral conductor is a live conductor but it isn't a line conductor

I know that but did not want to confuse the OP with phase/line/live/neutral/conductors etc...

 

[Paul_C]

I think what the OP means is that on the switch drop the blue wire (sleeved brown) has been used as the live feed to the switch, with the brown as the switched return to the lamp.

That's the opposite way round from the most common installation method in the U.K., but perfectly acceptable.

 

[wingcoax]

To Andypk. they do still sell twin brown, but you have to know which wholesaler to go to due to low demand.

 

[ColJack]

as long as it's sleeved to identify it's not a neutral wire, then it doesn't really matter which way round you use it..

normal convention is to use the brown as permanent live and the blue as the switch but it doesn't really matter..

View media item 13603

 

[Paul_C]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know the convention in this regard in other various countries?

In the U.S., for example, the convention is to use the switch loop conductors the opposite way around from British convention (allowing for the difference in underlying color codes, of course: L=black, N=white). That is, the norm is to use the white wire (marked black) as the feed to the switch and the black as the switched return to the light. The rationale was that when replacing a lighting fixture it would always leave a black & a white at the outlet for the connection to the light.