Electricians: strain relief for ceiling rose fitting

Question

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!)

beacon_dave · Accepted Answer

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

michaelkellett · Answer

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

Electricians: strain relief for ceiling rose fitting

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