Brick wall lights - SWA cable connections

[Neptune]

For various reasons out of my control, we have wound up in a situation where we have 1.5mm SWA cables buried in these pillars and exiting out of the plastic housing for the wall lights.

There are around 5 of these lights across the 5 pillars. Daisy chained with the 3 core SWA. As you can see, the wall ha snow bene plastered and finished. The house-end of this cable will be glanded into a Wiska box and punched into the house to connect to a Switched FCU.

The plastic housing set in the pillar is only deep enough to take the light!


The back of the plastic box has some screw holes for the light to fix to.

I am at a loss as to how I get these cables connected to the lights given the lack of space and hence, inability to gland these ends. If this were regular T&E it wouldn't have been an issue - from a space and connectivity point at least!

Can I please have some creative suggestions on how I get myself out of a hole. Thanks in advance.

 

[nicebutdim]

5mm is based on the current lights that are designed to be recessed into the plastic housing. I am inclined to use the entire housing (approx 7cm deep) to site the Y Box and purchased new slim led lights that will be surface mounted. Hope that makes sense.

Sounds like a good solution. Try to place those Y boxes in such a way that any water ingress or condensation can't collect in them. Gaskets seal well, but lids are flimsy and I'd tend towards being extra cautious.

 

[Neptune]

Sounds like a good solution. Try to place those Y boxes in such a way that any water ingress or condensation can't collect in them. Gaskets seal well, but lids are flimsy and I'd tend towards being extra cautious.

Can you send me a link to the lid for the Y box please. I don’t think the screwfix version has any seal on it.

 

[nicebutdim]

Can you send me a link to the lid for the Y box please. I don’t think the screwfix version has any seal on it.

Gaskets are purchased separately. Screwfix probably keep them, but any wholesaler will have them.

Avoid cut out gaskets, as they can be tricky, and look for solid gaskets.

Edit: screwfix stock code 9076J

 

[Neptune]

I purchased the galvanised Y boxes and glands from Screwfix. They should be fine to place inside he plastic box and I can then have surface mounted lights.

My plastic box - currently in the wall - is 23cm wide and 8.5cm tall. All the surface mounted lights have the same width. I don’t understand how I will fix them to the wall as the fixing points will have the hollow plastic box behind them. Ideally, I wanted a wider light which i can then fix to the wall. I would welcome any thoughts on this please.

 

[nicebutdim]

Yeah, it'll take a fairly large light to cover the width of brick lights. You could find plenty of wallpacks large enough, but they'll mostly be quite large overall and perhaps not quite what you're aiming for. Maybe make some sort of mounting plate from wood to cover the existing hole and to which surface lights can be mounted - painted in a colour of your choosing.

 

[Neptune]

Just one more for now please.
If I were starting a fresh, what is the “right way” to do this? Where would you gland and how will the glands be accessible for maintenance? Would they be hidden as ideally, you’d just be any the recessed light showing on pillar.

Will be good to know for anything similar in the future.

 

[loz2754]

Here's some guidance from a previous thread on the subject:

Advice on Installing Brick Lights

Hello all, I've recently begun building a retaining wall in my garden for a patio area, I decided to go for 6 brick lights along with other lighting for the area (not decided exactly what that will look like just yet). The brick lights I went for are these. I've been having a read up on how...

www.electriciansforums.net

 

[davesparks]

Just one more for now please.
If I were starting a fresh, what is the “right way” to do this? Where would you gland and how will the glands be accessible for maintenance? Would they be hidden as ideally, you’d just be any the recessed light showing on pillar.

Will be good to know for anything similar in the future.

There isn't one 'right way' of doing it, there are many different ways to do it depending on a number of factors.

If it needs to be done in armoured cable then it could be glanded into the boxes at first fix stage.

There may be a way to do the job that doesn't require armoured cable and an alternative such as flexishield or NYYJ might be suitable.

If only the feed cable needs to run underground and the cables linking the lights are run along the wall then an SWA for the first cable and flexishield between the lights woukd probably be my choice.

 

[Neptune]

If only the feed cable needs to run underground and the cables linking the lights are run along the wall then an SWA for the first cable and flexishield between the lights woukd probably be my choice.

Where would you situate the adaptable box and glands in this situation?
I was thinking - in hindsight - gland at the base of the wall pillars. Could then leave this amongst the shrubbery and then have a flexishield cable from here, burried in the pillar, and connected into the back of the light.

 

[davesparks]

Where would you situate the adaptable box and glands in this situation?

What adaptable box? I'd take the SWA directly to the first fitting.

I was thinking - in hindsight - gland at the base of the wall pillars. Could then leave this amongst the shrubbery and then have a flexishield cable from here, burried in the pillar, and connected into the back of the light.

Putting a joint box low down and buried behind shrubbery is asking for trouble.

 

[Neptune]

What adaptable box? I'd take the SWA directly to the first fitting.

Where would you situate your glands when there is a recessed light which is around 8cm deep? If you are suggesting behind the light, this is quite deep into the pillar and it would be difficult to work with glands (or squeeze the armoured cable into this space) inside that confined space?

 

[davesparks]

Where would you situate your glands when there is a recessed light which is around 8cm deep? If you are suggesting behind the light, this is quite deep into the pillar and it would be difficult to work with glands (or squeeze the armoured cable into this space) inside that confined space?

Without actually seeing the particular situation it is impossible to day for sure.

I would expect to gland the SWA onto the backbox for the fitting at the first fix stage.

If I had no choice but to joint the SWA onto another cable then I'd look to use a cast resin joint.

 

[Neptune]

Without actually seeing the particular situation it is impossible to day for sure.

I would expect to gland the SWA onto the backbox for the fitting at the first fix stage.

If I had no choice but to joint the SWA onto another cable then I'd look to use a cast resin joint.

Images of the pillar are in my first post and I am struggling to understand what you mean by glanding on to the back box. For a start, it’s flimsy plastic and even if it were metal/sturdy, how does that work? It will be difficult to work with the glands in that confined space and the glands will be inaccessible as the box is plastered in. Is that a good idea?

 

[mattg4321]

Brick lights are trouble imo, end of!

I only fit quality ELV lights in this situation. I’ve yet to find any brick shaped ones. Usually round

 

[HappyHippyDad]

Doesn't matter what you do 12 months down the line half of them probably won't even be functional.

Good advice. Basically @westward10 is saying... Give up and go to the pub.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Nearly a hundred posts on this. Surely some kind of record?