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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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    wallywombat:




    Arran Cameron:




    Burglar alarm guys also regularly connected into the lighting circuit in the loft and dropped a supply into the airing cupboard, they tend to be less than impressed when they don’t find a permanent live in a light ceiling rose.




    That's why I hold the view that there should be a separate circuit for a burglar alarm even if it has battery back up.




    That seems to be a bit of a non-sequitur.  If the alarm installers are disappointed that there isn't a nearby permanent live on a ceiling rose to steal from, they would be even unhappier if told they had to install a whole new circuit and run a cable back to the CU.


     




     

    Where is all this taking us? I'd have thought a decent burglar alarm system would require many wires to many places. I would expect the alarm power supply to come from a reliable source, possibly not a sub-circuit all to itself but something better than tapping into a convenient point on a lighting sub-circuit. If the installers cannot achieve this, it is a poor show, or else a Mickey-Mouse alarm system we are installing.
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    wallywombat:




    Arran Cameron:




    Burglar alarm guys also regularly connected into the lighting circuit in the loft and dropped a supply into the airing cupboard, they tend to be less than impressed when they don’t find a permanent live in a light ceiling rose.




    That's why I hold the view that there should be a separate circuit for a burglar alarm even if it has battery back up.




    That seems to be a bit of a non-sequitur.  If the alarm installers are disappointed that there isn't a nearby permanent live on a ceiling rose to steal from, they would be even unhappier if told they had to install a whole new circuit and run a cable back to the CU.


     




     

    Where is all this taking us? I'd have thought a decent burglar alarm system would require many wires to many places. I would expect the alarm power supply to come from a reliable source, possibly not a sub-circuit all to itself but something better than tapping into a convenient point on a lighting sub-circuit. If the installers cannot achieve this, it is a poor show, or else a Mickey-Mouse alarm system we are installing.
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