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stringy

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my boss sent me on a job today to put 6 down lights in a bathroom, dont normally do a lot of down lights.

anyway my plan was to take the pendant down connect all cables from the pendant into a 20a 4w jb in the loft then loop out to the down lights.

i know there are a lot of mixed feelings about being able to access jb's...so would you say the way i was planning on doing the job is ok or is there a better way?

cheers

 
Push in connectors, then enclose it in a chocbox. :)

 
yeah but if i did it that way would the choc box still need to be accessible?

i would say yes, but is the loft classed as accissible?

 
yeah but if i did it that way would the choc box still need to be accessible?i would say yes, but is the loft classed as accissible?
I reckon Yes!

Most downlights are Pull-outable...

if thats a word!! :^O

If you can pull the lamp down out of the ceiling...

gently pull the wire to access the connection..

then tis accessible IHMO!

Just as accessible as removing a light to get to a single 12v Trany...

to replace it cuz it had blown...

working from below cuz the loft was all boarded...

Then pop the light back when finished! :) ;)

Job completed & done.. customer paid me .. so MUST be accessible.. :D :)

Cant see any problem other than ensuring your wires aren't caught around another light that may melt them! :p :OBlushing

 
Also, You could also use the Blue plugs from TLC, (Quick Release) and use the "Push Fit Connectors" and place them in each hole of each Downlighter.

 
If you got in the loft to fit the JB then its accessible I'd have thought. Lets face it you could be there for ever perhaps rewiring to make a JB accessible, I know where you are coming from but you find these days that not many will bother. JBs behind your downlights though, no open connectors !1

Deke

 
Also, You could also use the Blue plugs from TLC, (Quick Release) and use the "Push Fit Connectors" and place them in each hole of each Downlighter.
Which is the way I would do.....

Further, if the push-fits are used, as Admin suggests, then the resultant "compression" connections do NOT have to be accessible.

IMO

KME

 
You will find that 99.9% of the time all the cables can be re-routed to above one of the downlights and jointed there. Rock and other manufacturers make a great new range of 'ceiling rose' style Jb's that fit through a 40mm hole just for this purpose.

 
Oh, Specs... Pushey Shovey.
Think you did Pushy shovey on yourself there Admin? ]:)

I reckon there must be a law against that.................. :eek:

bit like being too friendly with your own sister? :(

or thats what me Mums, Sisters, Son... told his Cousin... who I married?

but we didn't understand either. :p :p:pBlushing:_|

 
On Junction boxes, I use a ceiling rose in roof spaces, screwed to joist, for three plating then off to downlights ,say. Yes I know the lid should only be removable with a tool but its not when fixed to the ceiling as its normal funtion , can't see the difference myself. Losing those tiny grub srews from JBs drives me up the wall.

Sandra

 
well all hell broke loose at work today

the job that i posted about were doin all the elctrical work for the plumber, anyway i went round looked at the job told him what to get he got it jobs a good un.

anyway my boss comes round today ranting at me because i didnt use one of these clicks unit for the downlights.

tellin me that its ilegal to use junction boxes now according to the 17th to extend a circuit.

which i think is a load of bull!

ive scanned through the regs and cant see anything about no being allowed to use them, as long as you can access them.

anyway hes ranting onto the plumber its ilegal blar blar making a right nob of himself, then he comes out with something ive never heard before, if you had say 6 downlights wired the jb way would the last one be dimmer.... he reckons it would but if you use a clicks unit it woudnt.

is this true?

and also is there any regs which say you cant use jb;s to extend a circuit?

cheers lads

 
I don't know about reg numbers but if you use jb's they should be accessible. When doing downlights if they do not have loop in loop out connections I use chockboxes. I think its a niceic thing about decorators pulling cables out of jb's when decorating as jb's don't have grippers. To me it is just good practice.

Batty

 
well all hell broke loose at work todaythe job that i posted about were doin all the elctrical work for the plumber, anyway i went round looked at the job told him what to get he got it jobs a good un.

anyway my boss comes round today ranting at me because i didnt use one of these clicks unit for the downlights.

tellin me that its ilegal to use junction boxes now according to the 17th to extend a circuit.

which i think is a load of bull!

ive scanned through the regs and cant see anything about no being allowed to use them, as long as you can access them.

anyway hes ranting onto the plumber its ilegal blar blar making a right nob of himself, then he comes out with something ive never heard before, if you had say 6 downlights wired the jb way would the last one be dimmer.... he reckons it would but if you use a clicks unit it woudnt.

is this true?

and also is there any regs which say you cant use jb;s to extend a circuit?cheers lads
Electrical Connections is section 526 in the big red book. (page 106.)

it has points numbered 526.1 thro 526.9, and approx One page in length!

I cant see anything that says you cant have a j/box? :(

If fact I would suggest 526.5, (i)

refers to terminations being in a suitable accessory complying with an appropriate standad...

Which I guess includes most standard j-boxes ?

obviously that section includes the bits about screw joints being accessible and having suitable mechanical protection... etc.. blah blah etc.. :D

It most certainly is NOT illegal.... as we all know...

the regs are NON-Statutory! :) :^O :^O:^O

 
at least i know im not going mad....i think he's reading the wrong red book haha

what about the lights going dimmer if there looped in and out of a jb?

ive got 12 in my kitchen and there all the same.... well they look the same

 
The way i would wire this job -

wire loop in/out/sw into a 20amp jb in the loft {as the loft has a hatch it is accessible}

sw+n out to 1 st light, to next, next ect , if the lights are LV use small penny jb,s and connect trannie..

If mains spots i wire in and out of penny jb,s as above, and flex out of jb,s in 1.0mm to each light..

Your boss is talking nonsense to tell you the lights will go dimmer..

spots can go dimmer if you wire them to far away from the trannie when wiring a few off one big transformer .

Ste

 
at least i know im not going mad....i think he's reading the wrong red book haha:^O:^O:^O:^O:^Owhat about the lights going dimmer if there looped in and out of a jb?

ive got 12 in my kitchen and there all the same.... well they look the same
are we talking 12v? or 230v here?

12v's can go a bit of wobbler if you have excessive lengths from the transformer...

BUT 230v...

no different from any domestic lighting circuit? :eek:

you would have oh me bathrooms dimmer than me bedroom?? ?:|

:)

 
they are just normal 12v downlights each with there own 60va tranny looped in and out of a porkpie jb.....so there is hardly any distance between tranny and fitting just recommended distance.

everybody i know does it this way and has done for years...ive never heard of anybody putting a clicks unit in a domestic property.

the only thing i can think of in his deffence is if you loop in out to the jb's you would get volt drop, the bathroom is only small though....but with the clicks unit they all come out from one place.

what do you reckon?

hes still a nob though hahaha

 
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