JOHNJO14 1 Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 I had 3 lights installed in my cellar, the electrician put the switch in my hall upstairs above the cellar, he said this was to comply with the rules. The 3 lights are situated at different areas in the large cellar & they worked fine, each light is of the circular type with a starter & a round tube, covered with a cover that has 3 screws in it.Recently the lights will not come on, & i think it must be that one of the tubes has blown but i dont know which one as it appears that the 3 lights are linked from one to the next. I was not happy with this wiring in the beginning but i thought it might be ok, & so i didnt say anything about it.Now i would appreciate if someone could let me know how to work this out, so that i will know which tube is blown ?Also i would like to change this wiring eventually to make it 4 lights in the cellar instead of 3 lights, & i would like to be able to have 2 switches so that i could turn on & off a pair of lights when i need to. Thanks for your help.Johnjo14 Link to post Share on other sites
verne 1 Posted May 10, 2009 Report Share Posted May 10, 2009 if your cellar is like mine then damp is a problem. i have to be careful to only use well greased brass or stainless screws and put a membrane between the wall and whatever i am fixing. things last longer that way. i spent time improving the ventilation and have a small extractor fan running most of the time which has helped a great deal.i can't imagine anyone using a series lighting circuit on anything but a christmas tree so as all your lights have gone out it is likely to be a problem with the supply... a dud switch, an overtitghtened terminal screw causing a broken wire, or a loose scew causing a disconncted wire.if your installation is less than a year old you should get your electrician to sort it free.if proper moisture resistant fittings are used there should be no reason why you can't have a switch next to each light if you want one (used to be a very common system in large premises) if you also can isolate the circuit above ground. extending your system should be quite straightforward... another low energy fitting such as you already have won't overload the circuit but switching in pairs from your hallway represents more of a rewire of the system. Link to post Share on other sites
JOHNJO14 1 Posted May 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2009 Thanks Verne for the info, like you said it is wired in series, is that ok?.It has its own trip switch in the Consumer Unit, then switch in the Hall & then down through the wooden floor to the 3 lights in the cellar.If i want to install separate switches for each light in the cellar near to each light how would i go about altering the wiring to do this. I was thinking of using a Junction box & some extra wiring.What do you think ?Regards, Johnjo Link to post Share on other sites
verne 1 Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 sorry i didn't see your further question til just now johnjo. i guess you have probably got sorted by now...the wiring you described is unlikely to be a series circuit but a sort of daisy chain where both live and neutral wires (together in a common cable) pass through each light fitting in turn, supplying power to each in turn. this is called a parallel circuit and failure of a single light fitting should not affect the others as long as the wiring and supply remains good.fitting a switch of your choice next to each light should not represent much of a problem. it might be possible to fit the switch actually to the fitting if there is room in the casing or that fitting might be offered by the supplier with the switched option so it might be possible to upgrade your fittings...alternatively there should be room to include a single section of insulated chocolate block type terminal strip inside the casing of your existing lamp (if there is not a spare terminal included for this purpose) and access for another cable to the switch. using a separate junction box would not be a very satisfactory way to accomplish the object...after switching off and making safe, expose the innards of the light fitting. you should see a cable entering and a cable leaving which are connected together at the terminals of the lamp. install the cable that is to go to your switch, release the two existing red wires from their terminal and install them and the red wire of your switch cable into the additional (or chocolate block) terminal which is connecting the three together. fit the black wire of the swich cable to the now vacant live terminal of the light fitting and after double checking for safety and security of the new work the fitting can be closed and the switch fitted and the job is done...the final fitting in the daisy chain will probably have only a single cable.if you haven't got sorted already i hope this helps you... Link to post Share on other sites
JOHNJO14 1 Posted July 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 Verne, your a real good man, thank you so much for trying to help me. Good men are hard to come by & i have a lot of experience of people going through life, & i can tell that you are an extremely helpful person.The problem i had with the Cellar Lights has been resolved, i got an Electrician to have a look, & he found that the switch which is in our hall was defective. So it wasnt to do with the Lights at all, when he changed the switch for a new one it made the Cellar Lights work immediately. But thanks again Verne for the help & i wish you well.Regards, Johnjo Link to post Share on other sites
verne 1 Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 thank you for your compliment johnjo. true i would rather do someone a good turn than a bad one. call it ethical behaviour or whatever... my parents brought me up like this. they believed it was an essential part of being "English" and working class... oh, the beauty of innocence!i rather thought your problem was something like your electrician found; i think i said so in one of my earlier posts. as i said, if the job wasn't very old you should have dragged the first electrician back to do a free repair!now it is working you can extend the installation and fit additional switches at your lesiure. all the best... Link to post Share on other sites
madbalsam 0 Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 Sorry, I am kind of a noob about this topic,b ut do cellars have to maintain a certain temperature? If this is so, would LED lights do better for this area because they are not as hot as other types of lights? Link to post Share on other sites
directlight 0 Posted December 26, 2011 Report Share Posted December 26, 2011 In my opinion, if you the problem still persists, it would be better to call the electrician who has done light fittings in your cellar for better suggestions. Link to post Share on other sites
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