Wall light wiring a switch - SOLVED THANK YOU

[brendajorsler]

Hello folks
I have a wall light that does not have a pull cord or switch. I have just moved in my flat and the wall light is on all the time and there is no way to switch it off. I can only assume that whoever fitted it has wired it directly to the power supply.
I want to keep the light and do not want to have to rewire it. Could I add a switch to this wall light and if so how would I do this and what method is the easiest please.
Thank you for any suggestions
Brenda

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If you, who can see the wall light, can't tell if you could fit a switch to it, then none of us, who can't see it, can tell.

Whatever you do will involve wires, so when you say you don't want to have to rewire it, what do you mean?

I guess you don't have access to the ceiling void from above?

Have you had a good look for a switch, maybe hidden by something? Or at socket height level?

Which circuit is the wall light on?

Did you get the electrics inspected before you bought the flat?

 

[333rocky333]

Is there a small hole in the base
The cord may have just been pulled off

Possibly
Get a Small MAINS VOLTAGE pullswitch fitted in base
or
Get Lampholder changed to pushbar on/off type
or
Bin light get one with switch on
or
Get it wired up correctly

 

[brendajorsler]

Hello
There is just a wall light on the wall with no switch on at all. It is a brass wall light with a lampshade and a bulb that is permanently on.
When I said I did not want to rewire it I meant that I did not want to pull the wall down to find out what wires are connected to this light and have to replace them with suitable wiring that would enable me to be able to use this wall light with a new switch on the wall .
No ceiling access.
Definitely no switch.
What I think has happened is that whoever originally put up the light took the power from the back of a socket and sunk the wire into the plaster up the wall to the wall light and I do not fancy hacking out the wall.
The electrics were tested and all worked o.k. but as this wall light did not have a bulb in until yesterday I don't suppose that this would have been discovered unless the socket that it probably wired into was opened and inspected.
So I was hoping to use the wall light from the existing wire by adding some sort of switch to turn it on and off.
Thanks
Brenda

 

[ColJack]

photos of the light, and of the wall switch in the same room, wires on the back of the switch and light too please..

we can then tell you what you can do to sort it out..

it may be, as you've just moved in, that they did have a fancy light there with a pullcord fitted but wanted to take it with them..
they have a legal obligation to make good any removals they do, so they fitted the cheapest one they had, or could find in their loft / shed etc..

 

[333rocky333]

can you turn off each fuse in turn until the light goes off to see what size fuse turns it off
ie 6 10 15 16 20 30 32
We can then tell if it is wired to lights or sockets
If it is on any larger than 10 it may be unsafely wired

 

[brendajorsler]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply before I electrocute myself!!
It is the 15 amp fuse that causes the wall light to go off. This fuse when pulled out also causes the sockets in the flat to go off as well and the lighting stays on (all except the wall light) This is what made me believe that the wiring to this wall light is taken from the back of a socket with the wire directly from the back of the socket into the wall light.
Having read through the forum I think that I am in trouble !! If I just leave out the wall light bulb then I have a power supply that is still on. I was thinking of just taking the wall light off the wall but then there will be a live wire there I presume.
I think that this wall light has been here for years and just wired up by an old resident who saw an 'easy' supply.
Could I maybe change the socket for a switched fused thing and put a 3 amp fuse in it ?
Or is there a way to keep the socket. Ideally I do need the socket for my t.v. etc (it is a double socket) Just found out by peering into the socket that it is a spur from the ring main and indeed the wall light is wired from the back.
Oh joy !!!
60 year old widow with no 'man who can' electrically minded and the thought of paying someone to hack down the wall and re wiring terrifies me !!
Regards
Brenda
p.s. Have just seen a 'dual box' So if I can change the socket could I put a switched fuse thing and a single socket into this dual back box and connect everything up so that the main feed comes into the single socket and from there into the fused thing and then from the fused thing straight up to the wall light on the existing wire already coming from the wall light.
p.p.s If I am driving you guys nuts I shall not be offended if nobody replies !!

 

[333rocky333]

Your skill at working that out is quite impressive.

You have the right idea regarding the dual box, and fusing down the cable, or you could put the spur unit on a single box next to the existing twin socket.
The wire from socket to the spur either way needs to be correct type though

Not to sure if it is something you can do yourself safely and test after.

 

[brendajorsler]

Thank you for the compliment 333rocky333.
Us Essex ladies are quite resourceful !!
I did read that you should not take a second spur from a spur but could not figure out if this 'switched fused' thingie was classed as a spur ?
I shall use the correct wire from the socket to the switched fused thing. (2.5mm ?) with blue/brown/green-==live/neutral/earth
Could I still use the 'thick' wire that is chased into the wall (existing socket to wall light') to connect the switched fused thing to the actual light(apologies for calling it a thing I don't know the correct term).
The existing wire is quite thick (red/black/yellow==live/neutral/earth) about as thick as a thumb. Sorry to be a pain.
Brenda
Thank you once again

 

[333rocky333]

The fused thing is a fused connection unit,
in your case you want a switched fcu. to switch light on/ off

LOOK at a old post with FCU in it you willsee a picture
SEARCH for RF LIGHTINGS POSTS he has some very good pics

You can get flex outlet ones ,you want NO flex outlet
some people call them spurs , coz they used to be spur wired from a socket.

If the walllight wire reaches this will connect in the back of it via the box,
Not sure what wire this is but as your fuse will be only 3 amps, it proberly is big enough,
If the existing has a bare or PUSHED on SLEEVED earth then it is at least 1mm. and size is suitable.
put g/y sleeving on it ,if it is bare

There are regs etc regarding the wire in the wall, and testing earth etc ,but that is up to you if you want to pay to get it done correctly

The proper term "spur " is usualy a spur ie ONE socket or FCU taken from a point already on a 32 amp ring circuit, IF a further point was taken from this point , YOU THEN GET A SPUR FROM A SPUR
This causes problems as the spur and second spur wiring (20 amp ) could exceed its current rating due to the main ring fused at 32amps.
ie two 13 amp sockets could take 26 amp thus LESS than 32 but well over 20 = possible burn out of wire

SO IF AS YOU SAID YOUR fuse is 15 amp, yours is not a ring, but PROBERLY a radial, as it is proberly 2.5 which is rated at least 20 amps no matter how many sockets you have you should not if all well, overload the 2.5 without the 15 amp fuse blowing.

So No need to worry about the spur from spur thing
Might be worth looking at getting ALL the fuses changed for mcb's though.
If its a wylex board , with red 30,blue 15 and white 5, it is a straight forward replacement WITHOUT changing the whole box

A radial is basically a spur from a spur from a spur so and so on till the last one

 

[RF Lighting]

An FCU

 

[ColJack]

that's a SFCU.. Switched Fused Connection Unit..

FCU's don't have the switch.. or at least that's the way I was tought..

same as DSO is an unswitched double socket outlet, and DSSO is a double switched socket outlet..

This causes problems as the spur and second spur wiring (20 amp ) could exceed its current rating due to the main ring fused at 32amps.
ie two 13 amp sockets could take 26 amp thus LESS than 32 but well over 20 = possible burn out of wire

ref method 1 ( ie plastered into a wall ), 2.5mm² is rated at 27A.. but any thermal insulation over the wires reduces this by as much as half...

 

[333rocky333]

ref method 1 ( ie plastered into a wall ), 2.5mm² is rated at 27A.. but any thermal insulation over the wires reduces this by as much as half...

Agreed figures not accurate , just was an easy way to try to explain principle behind why a spur from spur could be wrong, as she had heard.
.
(Obviously not very well then)

 

[brendajorsler]

Thank you once again 333rocky333.
Went to B&Q and bought a switched fused connection unit with no flex outlet and wired it all up and put a 3 amp fuse in. All the wiring is secure and BINGO I can now switch my wall light on and off !!!!!
I shall be advertising my electrical services and hope to get huge contracts !!!! Wall lights a speciality
Thanks again for the time replying and helping out.
Brenda

 

[333rocky333]

And within 24hours!