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sparky1502

hello...i dont really understand the switch wire it being a permant live ,in a domestic lighting circuit. can some one explain it please...many thanks...sorry if it sounds like a stupid question
 
If you only have one cable at your switch then one of the conductors is permanently live. The other one only becomes live when you flick the switch, enabling you to turn your lamp on and off
 
im a 2nd year trainee....just brushing up on my knowledge by asking a few questions..

i did a job the other week just moving a lighting circuit in the loft to make way for a new hatch...i pulled the fuse out ( rewireable fuses) put still got a belt..i thought i'd turned off the juice i also checked with my volt stick the onsite electrician said something about the neutral being fused too... the cu was a mangled mess.
 
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You need to brush up on safe isolation, locking off and checking for dead before you go any futher then young man if you want to live to a ripe old age
 
yes i thought the same thing as i got a pretty perm..but i thought that taking the fuse out cut the supply and ive only just started dont earthing and protection in college it confused me as to why the neutral would have to be fused as does not carry a load
 
Don,t trust those volt sticks in my opinion mate, them who checks and checks again live to test another day my freind, get a proper martindale tester could prove a very good buy for you .
A neutral is classed as a phase conductor, never take things for granted, you CAN get feed backs if the con/unit is incorrectly wired.
 
Don,t trust those volt sticks in my opinion mate, them who checks and checks again live to test another day my freind, get a proper martindale tester could prove a very good buy for you .
A neutral is classed as a phase conductor, never take things for granted, you CAN get feed backs if the con/unit is incorrectly wired.

Neutral is a" live" conductor, not "phase", small terminology point, but one not to mess up in an exam. Even though neutral is connected to the center of the transformer and usually does not rise above earth potential, under fault conditions (or incorrectly wired) could become live................better safe than sorry, dont assume and treat as live as the phase.

Definately learn all about safe isolation, it will keep you alive. Dont take anyones word that something is dead, always check yourself...............:D After all its your fingers going in there!!!
 
Supply goes through phase condutor, via switches etc, passes through end item, in this case the light bulb, and returns on the neuteral condutor.

If the termination of the neuteral condutor is incomplete or incorrect then the neuteral conductor remains at +230v in this case as its a single phase condutor.

if i was to speculate as to why you got a belt of a conductor on a "dead" circuit i would say the clue is in the post,

The CU is a state, and you were moving a supply on a landing. these two facts would most probably point to a case of borrowd nuteral, hence it was carrying a supply on a dead circuit.

Like i say this is only a gues.

Trick is to test nuteral conductors for voltage as if there is a fault as here then i will flag a voltage or remove all assosiated nuteral for the circuit from the board, which is the way they teach newbies at college.

I just personally opt for the test twice and be sure option.

Be safe fella
 
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Neutral is a" live" conductor, not "phase", small terminology point, but one not to mess up in an exam. Even though neutral is connected to the center of the transformer and usually does not rise above earth potential, under fault conditions (or incorrectly wired) could become live................better safe than sorry, dont assume and treat as live as the phase.

Definately learn all about safe isolation, it will keep you alive. Dont take anyones word that something is dead, always check yourself...............:D After all its your fingers going in there!!!

Volt sticks are worse than cigarettes for a quick death. Get a good continuity/volt tester and test all line and neutral wires.

You may have come across a borrowed neutral/shared line. Kill one circuit to turn the light off (generally the downstairs), but then there is a loop through from the live lighting circuit upstairs. In this case you need to pull two fuses to make the light fitting totally dead. Very common in 60s/70s houses for stair lighting.
 
should u realy be working on electrics yet a neutral should not be fused or switched and did you pull the main fuse or just a lighting circuit fuse?
 
Corrected, graham, wrong terminology boys,

Now you see what 2391 does to ya :D:D Cant keep my mouth shut now.

Walked into a local estate agent touting for inspection work, and just inside the front door within arms reach is a 10way CU.........bottom half broken off and no cover on the Line busbar!!!!! :eek:
 
Now you see what 2391 does to ya :D:D Cant keep my mouth shut now.

Walked into a local estate agent touting for inspection work, and just inside the front door within arms reach is a 10way CU.........bottom half broken off and no cover on the Line busbar!!!!! :eek:

Yeh but what were the house prices up or down.
 
as for should i be working on electrics yet...we all got to start somewere i pulled the lighting circuit fuse out becuse the property was tenanted and the customers need the juice to be on i'm not a totally novice and i just follow what ive been shown..the spark who i was with never mentioned the neutral was fused and lookin at the board it was all over the place it had no earth in the property it was that old..the cable was a black colour looked like some sort of lead cable but thats a guess..it just perished in my hand...

i was working in a propery last week...a diyer had decided it would be fitting to wire his new shower to the back of a plug.....and the in his cu were the rewirable fuse was suppose to be a piece of copper pipe....what can u say to that....
 
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Quite correct my mate, we have all had to start somewhere, and in some respects thats why forums like these can only be good for our trade, i wish we had em when i was starting out, save me a lot of mistakes, as 1 old spark i was apprentice to used to say a man who never made a mistake never made anything, remember that my pal its true.
 
as for should i be working on electrics yet...we all got to start somewere i pulled the lighting circuit fuse out becuse the property was tenanted and the customers need the juice to be on i'm not a totally novice and i just follow what ive been shown..the spark who i was with never mentioned the neutral was fused and lookin at the board it was all over the place it had no earth in the property it was that old..the cable was a black colour looked like some sort of lead cable but thats a guess..it just perished in my hand...

i was working in a propery last week...a diyer had decided it would be fitting to wire his new shower to the back of a plug.....and the in his cu were the rewirable fuse was suppose to be a piece of copper pipe....what can u say to that....


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