Outdoor Christmas lights

whitesatin

I have a porch (not fully enclosed from the elements) in which there is an external light operated from indoors. Last year I had a lovely tree in the porch and used solar lights to decorate it but without much success, due to the lack of sun.

I am thinking of asking an electrician to fit an external socket for the purpose of powering the lights this year. The door is UPVC and glass so not really able to think of how to do this. Can the lights be used from the existing external light socket, in any safe way?

Any idea how much an electrician would charge to work something out for me?

shegirl

I've been considering similar but don't have a porch and want the lights in the garden.

Well,really my lights are solar BUT I have bought a pair of motion activated singing and dancing snowmen that I want to put by the front doorstep:o

WestonDave

We put icicle lights around our unenclosed porch, and just run the cable in through a nearby window. The cables on these are usually pretty long and also generally quite thin (on the LED ones anyway because there is a transformer by the plug changing it down to low voltage) so it quite happily goes through the rubber seal around the window.

Owain_Moneysaver

It would not be good practice to fit a 13A socket to the lighting circuit, as there is a risk that someone might use it for a lawnmower etc. However it is acceptable to fit a 5A socket.

Unfortunately the only weatherproof one I can find is the Lewden one which is expensive (and needs an expensive plug to mate with it for weatherproofness)

An alternative would be to use a 13A socket in an enclosure that can be locked to stop it being used for other things eg this enclosure