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We use the cellar in our house as an office.
The light switch for the cellar is at the top of the stairs you come down to get into the cellar.
This isn't a problem but when not used as an office it doubles as a spare room for people to sleep in.
There is an exposed cable (i.e. not chased into the wall) that exits the cellar and [i]I think[/i] reappears, again not chased into the wall, at the top of the stairs feeding the light switch.
I cannot access the section where the cable disappears.
Before I go chopping cables* how is best to double check, I presume some sort of meter but which one?
* Don't worry I wont 😉
something like
used properly.
Thanks Stoner.
So with the lights on, say, I should be able to test both exposed sections to see if the tip glows (etc), turn off, repeat etc?
Have I got the general jist there?
The only thing Im not wholly sure of is to what depth it will work.
It will glow when placed near current carrying conductor (cable).
Im guessing that the cable you want to chase out is probably not installed to current regs behind a steel shroud, nor run correctly when hidden (verticals/horizontals, in designated zones, between surface indications etc), in which case the fluke pen might be sufficient, or you could get an alternative stud&cable&pipe finder instead.
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Schneider-3-in-1-Detector-(Ac-Cable-Metal-Stud)/p/119805#
The fluke pen checks for live current, the stud finder checks for cable runs. It depends what youre after.
Apologies .... when I said chase I meant find/follow rather than chase into the wall.
Both sections of cable are expose on top of the brick if that makes sense so I could touch both ends with the pen.
right, then using the pen, checking it against known lives, and using a process of elimination you ought to be able to to confirm that the cable at one end is connected to the cable at the other.
yes but by doing that all you are confirming is that both pieces of cable are live !and doesn't confirm it is the same cable !!!
very dangerous
the only really safe way is to power off disconnect both ends of suspected cable put a live and neutral together at one end and then with a multimeter check for continuity at the opposite end this is the only safe way if you cant visually follow the cable.
Oh, you said *cable*.
I think the word you were looking for was "trace"
I'm an electrical engineer by profession & I hate domestic stuff as its often been home bodged & then plastered over 🙁
Industrial stuff is generally easier to trace & make sense of another persons work as its not buried under decorative stuff, though much more likely to kill you if you get it wrong 😮
Be careful with the non-contact pen stick type detectors. In some circumstances they will fail to indicate a live cable
As above. Make it dead. Short one end. Test for continuity. Assuming you only want to check the start and finish.
If you need to know the route, then you need to inject a signal into that cable and follow the signal
From your description it's slightly difficult to envisage what it looks like. As I understand it, you've got a light switch at the top of the stairs and a cable at the bottom of the stairs. This cable is partly buried. What's at the bottom? Does it just go into a wall and disappear or does it go into some form of box?
My assumption is that you want to put in a lightswitch at the bottom to give double switching.
Firstly, take the cover off the lightswitch and see what's inside. You might get some idea of the cable direction from the way in which it appears in the back of the box.
Also, you'll need to know what cables are in there. Depending on how the wiring to the lights is done there may only be a permanent live and a switched live (no neutral) or there may be LNE plus a wire to the lamp.
For double switching you need 3 core (plus earth) between the two switches. If the cable isn't this then it's not going to work unless you're prepared to accept the switch at the top of the stairs as a "master" and the downstairs one only working when the upper is on.
Photos/a diagram would be helpful and I can guide you more from there.
Rich.