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HINO

Ok all you electrical gurus and wanna be sparkies!

Please settle a question?

A subject of the Queen from the Island nation who lives in LOS and is building a house and claims to be a trained electrical engineer has told me that in British electrical standards the wiring to a light fixture is done by running the neutral through the switch and the load directly to the light fixture. In other words switching the neutral to get the light to shine.

I am one of those from the break away country 6 or so hours from the Isles and all I know of the wiring standards in the USA is the supply side load wire is run to the switch and then to the light fixture and the neutral directly to the light. In other words switching the load to get the light to shine.

So, most Brits I know are always right because they say so and I guess this is the case here also?

Someone please teach me the correct method to wire a light fixture?

Thanks I am never too old to learn something new. I know this is LOS and either way works?

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If you take the time to do the job right the first time you won't need to "find" the time to go back a second time

HINO

dirtydog

Take your choice, if it is likely to get wet, ie bathroom etc then stick the neutral in the switch.

For flourescents chuck the live in the switch otherwise they glow and flicker.

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Thetyim

^
Bugger you got there first.

I will now pre-empt the next question.

The switch should be fixed upside down in Thailand so that on is off and off is on
TiT

DrAndy

and should be located behind the door when you open it

Thetyim

^
No.
The switch should be located as close the the light fitting as possible to save 10 baht on the wiring.
Whatever you do don't locate the switch near the door or you will miss out on all the fun of stumbling around the walls when you come back from the pub

HINO

I plead to be an ignoramus,,

the black insulated in your drawing is the load?

andy55

always break the live wire not the neutral

dirtydog

^Trouble with that is that most bathrooms in Thailand are completely wet and often the switch is in the bathroom, yeah I know it's dumb but thats Thailand for you, if thats the case we run the neutral through the switch.

lom

It is still so wrong to do that.
You ALWAYS break the live wire, no exception to that rule. You are allowed to break both live and neutral with a 2-pole switch though.

Breaking only the neutral wire in wet areas is nothing more than creating a false impression of security.
And anyone who can't afford a few hundred bahts extra on a splash-proof installation deserves to get electrocuted.

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No panic please! And last out is a loser.

highonthai

Am I wrong? but, there is no neautral in a 220/240 volt system...

lom

There sure is.
The 220 Volt is the phase to neutral voltage in the 380 Volt 3-phase system.

highonthai

Would this be considered the high leg? Of a 3 phase sytem?

lom

No, high leg is only present in a 3-phase delta system.

This is a 3-phase Y-system where all legs are equal.
380 Volts between any phase to phase , 220 Volt between any phase to neutral.

The center of the Y is the neutral point, the outer points are the three phases.
Look at the letter Y and it will all become clear
The distances between the points are directly related to the voltage.

Tao

I've got one of those! It's my own fault though as i asked them to change the side that the door opened at the last minute.

HINO

So do I conclude that this fine British gentleman trained as an electrical engineer is quoting standards incorrectly or did I somehow mis-interpret what he said because of a language problem? I know we don't speak the same language.

I would never "break" the neutral in a light circuit even if the switch is in the wet area. They make switches for this purpose. The places I have seen using a switch in the wet area are wired wrong from start to finish so its not just the wet area that are a concern.

lom

Looks like you already know how to do it so why take any notice of the ideas of a
guy from the backward country?

baldrick

and make sure you have correctly installed earth leakage and a real ground stake .

Marmite the Dog

I changed them all in one of my apartments. Easily done and much more sensible. I was going to put proper plug sockets in as well, but never got round to it.

The_Dude

Sounds like this board has a few sparkys! If you are running electrical in the bathroom or anywhere with potential for electrical shock a GFCI/RCD should be installed. Always switch your hot lead (never the neutral). And, in we pull 2 hots a neutral with ground wire as per NEC. In Thailand do as you please is the code evidently!

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DrivingForce

^ Beat me to it.

That same sort of famous British electrical engineering was applied to the MG's and the Triumphs too.. Where are they now??


Should have a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter)
This is why other appliances shock you, You can't reverse the polarity like this because it energizes the neutral half of the electrical bar especially when there is no grounds to cause a short circuit..

You're thinking standard American where the voltage is split into 110v sides and too make 220v both sides need to be live without a neutral.

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