Lights circuit on a plug - portable inverter

Tomtomtom

Tomtomtom

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What is involved?

I want the house lighting circuit to be on a plug so that I can plug it into a portable inverter as if it were any other appliance.

It's a rental so I don't want anything permanent or complicated, just something more convenient than a whole separate set of lights on extension leads.

With just LED ceiling lights on the circuit (~200 W total) is there a safety issue bringing it out on some twin flex?

Not sure how it works with the neutral?
 
Tomtomtom said:
What is involved?

I want the house lighting circuit to be on a plug so that I can plug it into a portable inverter as if it were any other appliance.

It's a rental so I don't want anything permanent or complicated.

With just LED ceiling lights on the circuit (~200 W total) is there a safety issue bringing it out on some twin flex?

Not sure how it works with the neutral?
Click to expand...
You need an electrician, speak to your landlord.
 
I am considering the same thing for my house. Not twin flex though.

The plan is to have fixed cabling to my inverter trolley from the DB board and have a transfer switch wired to switch the lights circuits to the inverter during loadshedding.

I already have dedicated plugs in two rooms for this.

I will not so this myself, or without consultation with an electrician.
 
yea the transfer switch is the way to do it,

ie if bringing down a wire ,you land in suicide lead territory ie having to switch of breakers before connecting to inverter/ generator

and then when eskom is back you have a live 3 pin plug hanging around

ie if doing this i would use a transfer switch breaker big enough for plugs and lights
wire the circuit for tv and lights to be powered via transfer switch, then you just have a single wire from generator/inverter going to db and thus no other leads
 
Yes I'm only joking about twin flex. :ROFL: Half-joking, I think it should be within the current rating and I don't see the need for an earth?

Anyway I don't intend to DIY it, just want to establish that it's possible & safe before I try asking electricians.

I expect this kind of stuff isn't what the more traditional guys are used to being asked to do.
 
Tomtomtom said:
Yes I'm only joking about twin flex. :ROFL: Half-joking, I think it should be within the current rating and I don't see the need for an earth?

Anyway I don't intend to DIY it, just want to establish that it's possible & safe before I try asking electricians.

I expect this kind of stuff isn't what the more traditional guys are used to being asked to do.
Click to expand...
You would need earth if any of the fixtures are metal.
 
Tomtomtom said:
With just LED ceiling lights on the circuit (~200 W total) is there a safety issue bringing it out on some twin flex?
Click to expand...

Yes there is a safety issue.

Tomtomtom said:
Not sure how it works with the neutral?
Click to expand...

Tomtomtom said:
I think it should be within the current rating and I don't see the need for an earth?
Click to expand...

Definitely get an electrician. And get the owner's permission.

You will invalidate the electrical compliance, and the owner's insurance. You will be liable for costs and damages, and you could face more serious criminal charges.
 
leon.davibe said:
yea the transfer switch is the way to do it,

ie if bringing down a wire ,you land in suicide lead territory ie having to switch of breakers before connecting to inverter/ generator
Click to expand...

Not sure a transfer switch is useful for this? I would want the ceiling light circuit live and neutral completely isolated and brought out like that.

So it becomes effectively like any other appliance. Definitely do not want the circuit energised except via its own plug.

Would not want to do any other circuits/sockets either.

Bliksis said:
You would need earth if any of the fixtures are metal.
Click to expand...

I'd expect the fixtures to be earthed back to the DB already, but no need to run that on to the inverter output? Inverter input being portable is of course earthed and runs via the ELCB.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
You need an electrician, speak to your landlord.
Click to expand...
McRuder said:
Yes there is a safety issue.

Definitely get an electrician. And get the owner's permission.

You will invalidate the electrical compliance, and the owner's insurance. You will be liable for costs and damages, and you could face more serious criminal charges.
Click to expand...

I'm asking for the sake of my own understanding, not because I want to personally DIY it.

Do you know what the specific safety issues are?

As for compliance and insurance ja well that's a separate set of issues. TIA.
 
McRuder said:
Yes there is a safety issue.





Definitely get an electrician. And get the owner's permission.

You will invalidate the electrical compliance, and the owner's insurance. You will be liable for costs and damages, and you could face more serious criminal charges.
Click to expand...
On an irrelevant note, a COC is a total sham, but you need it.

Just because you have one, doesn't mean your house is compliant.
 
Bliksis said:
On an irrelevant note, a COC is a total sham, but you need it.

Just because you have one, doesn't mean your house is compliant.
Click to expand...

I'm 100% there is neither a CoC for this house and nor is there any chance it is compliant, but I'm also sure one could also be bought for ~R 600.

The wiring in here hasn't been seen to since the 1980s or so.
 
Well we now have our whole house ceiling lights running off our portable inverter (1 kW / 1.2 kWh SOL-I-BB-M1L).

It was an easy job, the only question as expected being whether the neutrals were properly separated, and fortunately they were.

I'm beyond pleased with the result. No more need for all the nasty LED lanterns and battery bulbs (except as bedside lamps, where they're useful anyway...)

The total draw is < 100 W.

With office, TV, and ceiling lights sorted and with gas hob and heating I feel like we're now 90% loadshedding-proof.
 
Tomtomtom said:
Well we now have our whole house ceiling lights running off our portable inverter (1 kW / 1.2 kWh SOL-I-BB-M1L).

It was an easy job, the only question as expected being whether the neutrals were properly separated, and fortunately they were.

I'm beyond pleased with the result. No more need for all the nasty LED lanterns and battery bulbs (except as bedside lamps...)

The total draw is < 100 W.

With office, TV, and ceiling lights sorted and with gas hob and heating I feel like we're now 90% loadshedding-proof.
Click to expand...
Nice and congrats!

As an aside, I don't see any issues with taking the live and neutral wires completely out of the db and adding a plug to it. Wouldn't make any difference to safety
 
Harmonic said:
Nice and congrats!

As an aside, I don't see any issues with taking the live and neutral wires completely out of the db and adding a plug to it. Wouldn't make any difference to safety
Click to expand...

I wonder if it's even possibly increased safety because now the lights sit after the earth leakage breaker. The downside being they're potentially a source of nuisance trips in future...
 
Tomtomtom said:
I wonder if it's even possibly increased safety because now the lights sit after the earth leakage breaker. The downside being they're potentially a source of nuisance trips in future...
Click to expand...
Lights should always sit after the earth leakage breaker, not?
 
Tomtomtom said:
What is involved?

I want the house lighting circuit to be on a plug so that I can plug it into a portable inverter as if it were any other appliance.

It's a rental so I don't want anything permanent or complicated, just something more convenient than a whole separate set of lights on extension leads.

With just LED ceiling lights on the circuit (~200 W total) is there a safety issue bringing it out on some twin flex?

Not sure how it works with the neutral?
Click to expand...
Suicide cable. Man up.
 
soulie said:
how have you isolated the earth on the lighting circuit ?
Click to expand...

You'd have to ask the electrician. I know there's an earth in the flat twin from the inverter but I'm not sure where he terminated it.

My guess is there was no earth in the ceiling light circuit to begin with. None of the fixtures is metal, it's all old bakelite pendants.

If you suspect some real safety issue (and not just some technical code violation, because obviously this is a hack) then I'm genuinely curious to know what I would need to do or what would need to go wrong in order for me to risk electrocution or fire, step-by-step.
 
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