Convert light fixture into power outlet

raygcon

Long story short, I want a power outlet on my terrace for my Xmas light. There is no existing outlet but one light fixture on the wall. After checking around this seems to be the option.

Take out the light bulb, and use the wire ( it is 1.5mm ) to connect to 13A outlet via 13A fused spur. So as long as the power consumption does not exceed 13A , it should be safe.

Is this safe? Is there anything I miss, or maybe this is a bad idea? I don't expect to use it for anything else apart from Xmas light ( which should draw a very low power consumption ), maybe heater, but heater maximum is 2000watt which is still under maximum 13A.

Please note, I live in UK.

Nilrem

For a start most lighting circuits are rated at something like 5amps with a fuse around that level, and wiring that is most definitely not intended for 13amps.

You used to be able to get adaptors that could plug into the pendant, but I've not seen them for many, many years and suspect they were banned (for a very good reason).

From what you've said, please, please don't muck around with the electrics, get an electrician in, or get a good quality extension and use that.

Davesnave

Way back in 1969, I was threatened with eviction from the London hostel where I was placed during my first posting in the capital. I'd not done anything terrible, but as a spotty 19 year old, I was in no position to get my own place. For that reason, losing my home there meant losing my job.

One thing saved me. I'd noticed that in the laundry facility, the two irons were plugged into light fittings and the floor was often very wet...... so I discussed this with the warden.

Pointing these things out definitely helped. My two room mates were evicted.

Many questionable things happened in '69, but apart from apparently 'forgetting' how to put people on the Moon, we have moved on in some ways, such as formalising building regs.

I doubt if LED type lights in normal quantities would put much strain on a lighting circuit, but once modified, there's no guarantee what an altered outlet might be used for in the future.

forestwn6

Under current regulations, outdoor circuits should only be installed by a certified electrician. The circuit should be backed up by an RCD.
Your idea to use a 2Kw heater would not work as the 6 amp lighting fuse/mcb would operate.

raygcon

Ok I think I might not made it clear.

It doesn’t connect from the light circuit but directly from the 1.5mm electrical wire to the outlet. I just want to confirm my understanding that as long as the power consumption doesn’t exceed what can transfer via 1.5mm wire i, technically it should be fine right?

I mention light fixture because that is where the wire comes from. If I take off all the light circuit and connect to its wire directly.

tacpot12

Technically, it's not alright for you personally to install a new 13A outlet because you have demonstrated that you are not competent to do so.

As the householder, you can ask a competent electrician to provide a 13A outlet fed from the nearest power circuit (which will be wired in 2.5mm cable) or from a lighting circuit. If fed from a lighting circuit , the electrician may be able to install a fused spur to supply the outlet and use a 3A fuse to limit the power drawn. (This will limit the socket to drawing 690 watts, and the outlet would ideally be labelled with this restriction). The electrican may NOT be able to use the lighting circuit, this will depend on the numberr of light fittings on the circuit already. The electrican also needs to consider whether any extra cable that needs to be installed will increase the volt drop to later sections of the lighting circuit.

Fire_Fox

Agree with Davesnave you cannot police how the rogue socket is used in the future. Also if the rogue socket is linked to the 'wrong' circuit breaker, someone may not realise it is live ....

In a previous house there was just such a rogue socket. As a result there was a short run of wiring in the kitchen wall where it had no business being. Had someone decided to drill holes they could well have had a nasty 'surprise'. :eek:

getmore4less

raygcon wrote: »

Ok I think I might not made it clear.

It doesn’t connect from the light circuit but directly from the 1.5mm electrical wire to the outlet. I just want to confirm my understanding that as long as the power consumption doesn’t exceed what can transfer via 1.5mm wire i, technically it should be fine right?

I mention light fixture because that is where the wire comes from. If I take off all the light circuit and connect to its wire directly.

Where does that 1.5mm wire come from?

Is it the lighting circuit, a ring, direct to the CU or fused.
Does it currently have a RCD?

Grenage

You have to consider that if your changes aren't standards compliant, someone else in the future is going to assume it's a standard socket. With a 13A fuse in a plug, there would be nothing to stop the 1.5mm cable overheating.



I once isolated a ring to replace a socket at my parent's house. Thankfully I test every time, and discovered that it was connected to a lighting circuit - I was not very happy.

EachPenny

getmore4less wrote: »

Where does that 1.5mm wire come from?

Is it the lighting circuit, a ring, direct to the CU or fused.
Does it currently have a RCD?

If I understand the OP correctly, the existing use of the 1.5mm wire is irrelevant. They are simply proposing to reuse the existing cable run supplied by a new 13A fused spur to feed a single outdoor socket.

Why they want to do this, rather than employing an electrician to run an appropriately sized feed to the socket , I cannot explain.

(I suspect they have seen that 1.5mm T&E is rated at anything up to 20A and don't appreciate why this figure has nothing to do with whether their 1.5mm cable is suitable for the proposed purpose)

raygcon

This is a bit weird.

Firstly I'm not trying to force anything to risk my life obviously. If is considered really unsafe then I won't touch it myself, I have enough money to hire electrician to do it for me.

This is just a basic question on technical level of whether is it possible, what would be the problem. I'm just interested whether it is good or not.

The biggest problem I have is , there is no power outlet on balcony. To run it from usual 2.5mm it will require drilling the wall. So the very basic question is, what would be the problem if I run it from existing 1.5mm wire ( from light fixture ) , and that is only because it is the only power source there.

Of course, running any electrical machine that pull power more than 1.5mm wire can provide will cause the issue, but what if we will never do that? what if the power we use is less than that, a lot less, like just a xmas light? Ignore heater, ok that's too much. But what about xmas light, is that even ok? 200 led light bulb that consume like 1A ? This is basically changing the existing light into xmas light, just using the same source.

Ignore 13A power outlet. Ignore heater.

Is it ok to run xmas light which consume 1A of total power , from the light fixture wire which is 1.5mm. With the basic setup of using fuse spur connection.