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What is the best way to wire ceiling lights?

Arran Cameron
The ceiling rose junction box with its loop-in wiring is now really showing its age and is no longer a practical (or even safe) installation for most residents who wish to install fancy light fittings. It is still, however, the most common arrangement for new build houses and rewires, probably as the result of the electrician's training and how they consider it to be the norm or they cannot think of (potentially better) alternatives.


So, what is the best way to wire ceiling lights? Should neutral wires be taken to the switches or not?
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    Sparkingchip:
    2e083af39e4e4ae60a410bb5445d6fbb-huge-20190829_171028.jpg

    The reality of what we are dealing with is this neutral borrowed from the cooker circuit for the kitchen under cabinet lights on the lighting circuit I was trying to move onto a RCD protected fuse board last week. 


    Andy Betteridge 




     

    "Borrowing" of a neutral from a different sub-circuit is a definite no-no! I once worked in an old building served by more than one consumer unit. A neutral to serve a circuit off one consumer unit had been taken from a circuit on the other consumer unit. This meant that if the second consumer unit two-pole main switch were switched off, the neutral from the first circuit would lose its path, causing both neutral and live connections on the second consumer unit to go live, though of course nothing served by it would work. A very dangerous situation for an unsuspecting electrician.


    That's why I double check everything I work on with my trusty neon screwdriver tester. Even with both sub-circuits on the same consumer unit, this is bad practice and banned by Regulations for good reason.
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  • 0

    Sparkingchip:
    2e083af39e4e4ae60a410bb5445d6fbb-huge-20190829_171028.jpg

    The reality of what we are dealing with is this neutral borrowed from the cooker circuit for the kitchen under cabinet lights on the lighting circuit I was trying to move onto a RCD protected fuse board last week. 


    Andy Betteridge 




     

    "Borrowing" of a neutral from a different sub-circuit is a definite no-no! I once worked in an old building served by more than one consumer unit. A neutral to serve a circuit off one consumer unit had been taken from a circuit on the other consumer unit. This meant that if the second consumer unit two-pole main switch were switched off, the neutral from the first circuit would lose its path, causing both neutral and live connections on the second consumer unit to go live, though of course nothing served by it would work. A very dangerous situation for an unsuspecting electrician.


    That's why I double check everything I work on with my trusty neon screwdriver tester. Even with both sub-circuits on the same consumer unit, this is bad practice and banned by Regulations for good reason.
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