3 Pole Fused Switch Wiring

[surfpaddy]

Good afternoon.   I'm new to forums generally and this is my first post here, so here goes ...

As a fairly accomplished DIYer of some 4 houses todate I have a question relating to the wiring of a triple pole fused switch I have recently bought for isolating a shower extractor timer fan.    I expected to see terminals for L1, L2 and N (IN and OUT areas) however the Click model I have received has an additional Live in and out which appears to be part of the actual fused area (so that's 3 lots of live terminals).

I'm guessing that  the permanent live feed goes into the fused terminal (L in) then I need to add a bit of wiring from the L out to L2 in, with L1 left for the incoming switched live?  Would anyone know how the wiring from the lighting junction box works for this type of FCU? - the extra live terminal is confusing me!!   Apologies but can't see where to upload an image of the FCU.

 

[kerching]

Some fans require fusing down to 3 A......somebody who has far more idea than me will be along shortly to shoot me down in flames. I have only been in the trade for 40 years!...so am deemed to know very little by some

If you can post the part number of the switch then we can have a look on line and give you an explanation. I have not actually seen a fan iso with a fuse...but it is a good idea!....it is the fan motor which is usually protected

 

[surfpaddy]

It is labelled as a Click K6093 (BS EN 60669-1 10AX 250V) over the L1,L2 and N terminals with Click 047 (BS 6733 13A 250V) labelled over the fuse housing bit where the additional L in/out terminals are located.

I've already replaced the 13 amp with a 3 amp fuse.

 

[steptoe]

May I suggest the additional fused part is to use as the loop for the light being switched.   :C  

 

[surfpaddy]

Are you saying that the incoming switched live (from the lighting junction box) should connect to the Live (in) in the fused area, then I loop a short wire from the Live (out) in the fuse area into the L1 (in)?   I was assuming it was the permanent live that needed to go through the 3 amp fuse.

 

[steptoe]

Your 'live' feed supplying the switch goes to the fuse, then from the fuse go to whatever terminal you are using for permanent 'live', 

from the switch go to whatever terminal you are using for sw 'live'

that way both your perm 'live' and sw 'live' have both been fused down to 3amp 

What sort of lighting configuration do you have,?

Loop at light

Loop at switch

Spider

Something else?

Do you know? It may be something different. 

 

[Evans Electric]

I just looked in my Click catalogue  but that switch is'nt there ,  its not Googleable either  but I think I saw something of that ilk in the trade mag.

They have incorporated a fuse in the fan isolator to protect the fan motor .   But I'd say you have to re-jig the wiring so that the fuse would isolate the light too ...so that the SL becomes dead also .    I havn't seen the wiring for these switches.

When timer fans are triggered by the light switch  , in my opinion , ( and like Kerch I am a mere child )   they need to treated as linked devices so this "new" isolator which I've not seen , would need to have the bathroom light feed via the fuse .  

That is :-  The fuse is downstream of the light & fan .........you can't just fuse the fan because the SL wire could still be live .

 

[surfpaddy]

Thankyou steptoe and Evans Electric, apologies for the delay in responding but many thanks for your valuable time.

I was happy with steptoe's advice as that was my planned way ahead however Evans Electric has thrown a spanner in the works with the need to "rejig the wiring" to isolate the SL.   Maybe I need to get a different 3 Pole switch without the confusion of an additional Live terminal sat on the fuse housing, or even minus the fuse.

steptoe,

To answer your question (sort of) :-  the ceiling rose has just the one cable coming in, so has the wall switch.  Having lifted a few of the boards upstairs (it's a ground floor shower I'm fitting) I'm expecting to eventually find a junction box (no luck yet) on the loop with the switch cable, light cable and ring feed cable(s).  I'm just trying to connect up at the shower area end before making the final junction box connection.

If I sound out of my depth I'll give up and get the expert in but having done much of the laborious work I keep getting told "it's a minor job not worth coming out for unless I can charge you mega bucks".

 

[steptoe]

seems like you have spider lighting,

if you get a spark in, make sure he has been in the trade a good number of years,

some shorter term sparks may understand this system, but prob >98% wont, even a lot of longer time served sparks dont understand spider lighting systems.

 

[kerching]

seems like you have spider lighting,

if you get a spark in, make sure he has been in the trade a good number of years,

some shorter term sparks may understand this system, but prob >98% wont, even a lot of longer time served sparks dont understand spider lighting systems.

I can even remember the first 601 jb i fitted.....and where it was

I cannot however remember to call a earth wire a CPC

Fuse........OCPD

Megger it.........IR test

What i had for breakfast

 

[NozSpark]

seems like you have spider lighting,

if you get a spark in, make sure he has been in the trade a good number of years,

some shorter term sparks may understand this system, but prob >98% wont, even a lot of longer time served sparks dont understand spider lighting systems.

I really don't get how any spark could have trouble understanding spider lighting wiring

BTW I to would love to see a pick of this switch

 

[Sharpend]

Not the click but similar http://www.qvsdirect.com/excel-3-pole-fused-fan-isolator-switch-white

 

[NozSpark]

Oh jeez..... For some reason I thought that the op was on about a shower pull with a fuse for the fan :shakehead

 

[steptoe]

Oh jeez..... For some reason I thought that the op was on about a shower pull with a fuse for the fan :shakehead

bloody 5WW    :slap

 

[NozSpark]

3dw if you please

Or was it 2 1/2 days.... I can't remember it was that short

 

[Apache]

Is this not to allow the fan to over-run after the light is switched off?

 

[steptoe]

Is this not to allow the fan to over-run after the light is switched off?

yes, and the fuse is to fuse down both the PL and SL

 

[surfpaddy]

The topic has seemed to go off at a tangent.

Regarding wiring the switched FCU: I have spoken to an electrician today who advises me to leave the additional Live terminals (entering the 3 amp fuse) free from wiring and just connect the feed SW to L1, PL to L2, N to N as normal.   I therefore assume that the 3 amp protection is replaced by the lighting circuit protection (5 amp?).

This defeats the idea of a 3 amp FCU so I plan to follow steptoe's advice at comment #6 which I understand to mean (in plain english):   Using 3 core and earth cable:

1. Connect the Perm Live (from the lighting junction box) to the Live IN (which enters the 3 amp fuse) on the FCU.

2. With spare wire connect the LIVE OUT (exiting the 3 amp fuse) to L2 IN (all within the FCU).

3. Connect the Switched Live (from the lighting junction box) to L1 IN in the FCU.

4. Connect the Neutral (from the lighting junction box) to N IN in the FCU.

5. Cover Earth wire coming in and out as no Earth terminal in FCU or Fan Unit.

6. Connect L1, L2, and N OUT terminals to Fan Unit (remembering which is PL and SL).

All comments gratefully received.   On a separate note - is there a way to import an image from my PC into a topic - it would have saved a lot of hassle!!

 

[Sidewinder]

You will be able to post images once you get to 10 posts unless Admin3 changes your rights.

It is to stop spammers, not sure if anyone else knows what to change!

Please do connect the cpc's in the wiring to each other to ensure you have continuity down circuit from the point you are working at.

As far as the rest goes I am not familiar with the accessory you have bought to comment.

 

[surfpaddy]

I have just completed the work as per my post #18 and all works fine after a little tweaking of the fan timer.     I have labelled everything up before boxing off the wiring so the next bloke is not too confused - hopefully I'll be living here for a while yet though!).

Many thanks to you guys for your time on this.