Can a ceiling light be plugged into a mains socket?

Talk Electrician Forum

Help Support Talk Electrician Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Barndog

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Hi there. A bit of a random question but can you plug a ceiling light into a mains socket?

  We have a long narrow hall which has a light near the front door and we would like to get an extra light fitted at the other end of the hall, which tends to be quite dark. The light switch must be near the front door along with the existing switch. We recently had an electrician round carrying out other work for us and asked him if we could install a light, but he said because the joists in the ceiling are running the wrong way we have have to lift the upstairs floors to run the wire to the light switch, something we are not willing to do.

  Now, above the place where we would like a new light is a built in wardrobe which has a standard electrical socket inside, so I was thinking, would it be possible to wire a ceiling light into the socket via a 3 pin plug? I could then fit some smart bulbs into the light and turn it on and off via a wireless smart home switch. I could then use smart bulbs in the existing light and control both lights off the same switch.

  If you cannot use a ceiling light could use stick a table lamp upside down on the ceiling and plug it in to the upstairs plug? I'm ok working with the smart home stuff and general DIY, but I'm not so confident with electricity so any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 
I can't think of any reason why you cannot do as you suggest. Use a 3 amp fuse and 3 core 0.75mm flex from the plug to a conventional ceiling plate, (or any other fitting you choose). There is no advantage in adapting a table lamp.

 
You may want to consider a "sonoff" unit. It would go between the plug and the lamp, it will switch off any lamp,  they only cost just over £5 (cheaper than a smart lamp) I have a couple and all controlled via "Alexa"

 
Top