Why do my bathroom light switches keep failing?

[telectrix]

have to concur with mike here. but only on this issue. politics and jointing cables in trunking is still liable to argument.

 

[Paul.M]

Get your money out, it is due to the cables being too long lol

Money where your mouth is .... £5 to charity for the looser to cough up. Are you up for it Mike?

Long wires for you. Dodgy terminal for me. Have we got a bet?

 

[sammy7boy]

Haha. We may all have to wait a little while for this conundrum to be solved and the bookies to pay out, because the quickest, cheapest, easiest option for me today was to take the switch mechanism back to Screwfix and get them to give me a replacement which i was simply able to connect and screw back into the same casing. It's working fine now, of course. Took the opportunity to sort cables out, so IF long cables were the problem, they shouldn't be now. I did ponder the idea of buying a 45A shower pull cord switch, but i'm not convinced that LED inrush current really is the source of the problem. Firstly, i couldn't find anything that said LED inrush current can be "hundreds" of times greater that the running current, although i can't say i researched it that extensively. But secondly, even if excess inrush current is the cause of the problem, i don't understand how that could possible damage the spring mechanism. Yes, it may fry the contacts after a while, but the contacts looked good as new. I guess the best way to find out could be to switch back to 40W halogen GU10 spotlights for a couple of months and see if the problem stays or goes. For the moment we'll have to watch this space and see what happens...

 

[NDG Elecs]

I have had the same issue with BG pulls a couple of times in last six months. Initially just swapped the first one for same as assumed a dodgy one off switch. After second switch I changed to a Hager instead. No callback as of yet on that one. I realise you have tried different brands but thought I would mention it that's all. Personally not fully getting the long conductors reason. They would have to be bloody crammed in good and proper to push hard enough against the switch mechanism. And this will be 1.5mm cables which are pretty pliable.

 

[Guest77]

I have had the same issue with BG pulls a couple of times in last six months. Initially just swapped the first one for same as assumed a dodgy one off switch. After second switch I changed to a Hager instead. No callback as of yet on that one. I realise you have tried different brands but thought I would mention it that's all. Personally not fully getting the long conductors reason. They would have to be bloody crammed in good and proper to push hard enough against the switch mechanism. And this will be 1.5mm cables which are pretty pliable.

The cables push against the mechanism which makes it fail, very common issues we electricians encouter from day to day.

 

[NDG Elecs]

Never came across this as far as I know, although only be sparking 8 years. Will remember this for future. Still a bit surprised though as the switch mechanism is obviously encased in a hard, near brittle, plastic. Cheers.

 

[Guest77]

Never came across this as far as I know, although only be sparking 8 years. Will remember this for future. Still a bit surprised though as the switch mechanism is obviously encased in a hard, near brittle, plastic. Cheers.

Still a novice then :devilish: seriously the quality of switches these days are poor in relation to years ago and that is dictated to by price and manufacturing in eastern asia, the contacts are flimsy and as Marvo mentioned earlier a higer rated switch than 6 amp like a 20 or at least a 16 amp would aid the life of the unit.

Edit Sintra lol

 

[Paul.M]

BG pull cords aarrhh! Bought a box of ten a couple year back as they were on special offer. Lego bricks are better constructed! 4 out of the 10 broke within 2 months. Time wasted going back changing them etc, never buy them again.

 

[markc123]

Still a novice then :devilish:

We're not all old and grey you know Mike lol :wink5::leaving:

 

[NDG Elecs]

Still a novice then :devilish: seriously the quality of switches these days are poor in relation to years ago and that is dictated to by price and manufacturing in eastern asia, the contacts are flimsy and as Marvo mentioned earlier a higer rated switch than 6 amp like a 20 or at least a 16 amp would aid the life of the unit.

Edit Sintra lol

The more I learn about this trade/profession, the more I realise I know very little! Manufacturing is pish poor these days; half of stuff made should not get through quality control IMO.

 

[NDG Elecs]

BG pull cords aarrhh! Bought a box of ten a couple year back as they were on special offer. Lego bricks are better constructed! 4 out of the 10 broke within 2 months. Time wasted going back changing them etc, never buy them again.

Paul, some of the BG gear ain't half bad. I generally have a few BG and Crabtree switches and sockets in the van as a different option to Hager. However, I will stay well clear of BG pulls after the callbacks I had. Stopped using their CUs also due to issues with them.

 

[Paul.M]

The BG pull cords I got seemed to be made from another supplier with a BG logo on them? Crabtree make a good pull cord, no problems so far???

Bg do a good line in sockets, use them most of the time now so they are not all bad, just the odd item now and again.

 

[Guest77]

The more I learn about this trade/profession, the more I realise I know very little! Manufacturing is pish poor these days; half of stuff made should not get through quality control IMO.

I agree mate