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Electricians: strain relief for ceiling rose fitting

Andrew J

I‘m busy working on the house at the moment and have found this in one of the rooms. 



As you can see, the whole fitting doesn’t seem to be properly supported and the wires themselves are fraying.  It would seem that there is a lack of strain relief in the way it is wired in.  Not being an electrician I’m not familiar with the best way of doing this given this particular rose fitting.  I can re-wire the live and neutral wires but there doesn’t seem to be anything within the rose itself to help avoid a repeat problem.  Any experienced electrician have any tips (UK based so only ideas that are UK legislation conformant!)image

  • 0

    These fittings seem quite common - and you can still buy them so I guess they must be OK.

    I've never seen a maximum weight specified for the lampshade.

     

    There isn't much risk - if a wire breaks the light goes out, it's up on the ceiling so can't be accidentally touched even if the wire end was exposed.

     

    You could put a cable tie on the cable so it can't pull through the hole in the screw on cover but I'm not sure hwo much of an improvement that would be.

     

    The wire clamping in the bulb holder is frequently of the same (low) standard.

     

    (BTW - I'm an electronic engineer - not a qualified electrician)

     

    MK

  • 0

    I don't think that you are using the cable restraint correctly. ( Always refer to the manual ! image )

     

    image

     

     

    Heavier light fittings expect the use of a separate hook to take the full weight of the fitting, leaving the rose only supporting the flex.

     

    With the old braided flex, electricians often placed a loose knot in the flex before it exited the rose. Some of the rose fittings are supplied with a plastic clip or grommet instead, so similar to the cable tie technique previously mentioned. I have seen some roses supplied with a grub screw cable clamp as the cable exits the rose.

  • 0 in reply to michaelkellett

    "...There isn't much risk..."

    I think that depends on the size of the chandelier... image

     

    ...combined with the weight of the person swinging from it at the time of collapse. image

  • 0 in reply to beacon_dave

    Tthanks Dave, very helpful.  It’s only holding a bulb and lightweight shade but I’d rather set it up correctly.

  • 0

    Hi

     

    That fraying of the conductors isn't because of the strain relief route not being quite right. IMO it was damage when someone parred the outer insulation back - probably with some pliers - or held it in pliers to strip the ends?

     

    Apart from that your photo is typical wiring for most of these ceiling roses, indeed yours is a bit neater as there is no chocolate block going to another circuit or PVC tape wrapped around an odd wire image. Such a  setup seems to hold a 'typical' shade and bulb...although the glass LED bulbs can be heavier than the old BC filament bulbs.

     

    Something I had years ago was a horrible fishy smell appearing after the (in those days filament) bulb had run for about 10 minutes; it turned out emanated from the old Bakelite fittings. Replaced them one by one with new quality fittings and all was good.

  • 0 in reply to 14rhb

    You’re right - I disconnected it to check and the strands aren’t damaged, just the insulation which has a neat cut in it.  I’ve re-connected it as per Dave’s image so it should be more secure.