Earth for Light Fittings

RJBaracuda

All, I am thinking of fitting some Downlighters, the ones i am looking at have an earth connection, however, my lighting circuits do not. They are wired in single core sheathed 1.5mm of appropriate color, but as i said, no earth. Now, i dont like the idea of no earthing. So.. where i dont really want to use double insulated fittings, is it possible for me to instate an earth wire from fittings back to the Consumer Unit. If so , what size cable,1.5mm presumably) - Im also thinking of using metal switch plate. Can this be earthed back to consumer unit also? Thanks, I hope this is possible..if not, what are my options.

davelerave

You can run 1 earth back for each circuit .loop it around to lights and down to switches on each circuit.You should do an IR test when lights are connected before fitting bulbs

RJBaracuda

dave, thanks, am i right in saying that the cable should be 1.5mm sleeved green/yellow in the Grey PVC outer sleeve.

davelerave

1.5 pvc earth

Stoner

RJBaracuda wrote: »

dave, thanks, am i right in saying that the cable should be 1.5mm sleeved green/yellow in the Grey PVC outer sleeve.

No there would be no grey PVC outer sleeve, I agree 100% with earthing the metal switches this is IMHO more important than earthing the fittings themselves, particularly if the fittings have 12V transformers isolating a fault path from the surface of the fitting to ground.

RJBaracuda

thanks alot lads, so for clarification, should there be the grey pvc sleeve on top of the green/yellow sleeve..? Im thinking that it shouldn matter, but from a best practise point yeah im thinking its more important on the light switches. I know of many So if my earth wire goes in one run, basically daisy chaining between fittings and light switches, and back to the consumer unit, then although not ideal, it will be safer? Thanks again.

davelerave

it will be safer if done properly and tested.ie:IR test,earth continuity and loop impedance.Double-insulated might be better otherwise.
Saw a job recently where a so-called sparkie daisy chained the lights in 3-core and connected the lot to a 2-wire supply,everthing goes 'live' then in the event of an earth-fault,not just the faulty fitting.

RJBaracuda

thanks all, great help.