I moved in my house recently .
The house is built in 2017 so basically new house.
The wall switch looks cheap one, so I tried to change other design.
When I open inside, I found there is no ground wiring.
Is it ok to have no ground wire for wall light switches?
please check the picture.
I am an electrical engineer, and I can confirm everything you've said.
Especially the "leave it alone" part.
From memory, light fittings do not always have to have an earth connection (e.g. if they're plastic), but generally should/would be (e.g. in case you want to replace the plastic with a metal one). CBF checking AS3000 so don't hold me to that one.
Interestingly I bought two ikea ceiling light fittings yesterday. Neither have an earth however one is plastic so the electrician said not such an issue.
For the metal one with no earth, is this against some kind of aus standard? Seems weird for Ikea to be able to sell this
sigh despite my previous reluctance to dive into the law books… here we go.
Note that I'm not a lawyer, I'm not employed by you for engineering advice, this is just some random personal opinion on the internet and should not be relied upon for any purpose.
If your light runs on mains voltage, then it probably has to be installed more than 2.5m above the ground (and not in a kitchen, bathroom, or laundry) to comply.
If it runs on ELV (e.g. 12V dc), or if it's double-insulated, then it's OK.
Here's the relevant AS3000 clause, with italicised remarks added to briefly explain some exceptions.
5.4.4 Luminaires
The exposed conductive parts of luminaires shall be earthed.
Exceptions: Luminaires need not be earthed in the following circumstances:
1 Where earthing of equipment is not required in accordance with Clause 5.4.1. (double insulated or >2.5m from ground in a room with no water)
2 Where a protective earthing conductor is not required in accordance with Clause 5.4.3. (fully insulated design, mounted via an conductive earthed pole, or long insulated pole)
@abb: Huh interesting. Thanks.
The electrician was going to earth it anyway, I just thought it was odd that ikea sold it that way
Earth will be going directly to the fixture. Don't touch those things please unless you understand it well before you touch it.
yep. I am not going to touch. but the wiring I can find on google is bit different so I am asking about it.
If you look a bit further in the wall or ceiling void - all earth wires will be connected together, as well as neutral ones. Your switch will only have red/live wires.
LOL.
The warning should be:
If you are in Australia don't touch it.
If you are in New Zealand then it is OK, you can legally do your own electrical work at home.
This shows how incredibly difficult it must be to safely do electrical work. ABSOLUTELY NOT!!
While having to pay an arm and a leg for an Electrician, then wait for weeks until they finally turn up is a PITA, in your case OP I would strongly suggest you employ one as you obviously have no idea what you are doing.
As u9tvfr has correctly stated light switches don't need to be grounded.
When your wiring burns out and causes a fire and your insurance company asks for the electrical certificate of compliance you'll be stuffed.
The lack of earth is far less concerning than the unqualified person, with a lack of electric knowledge attempting to modify it.
Please be aware that in Australia it is illegal to do your own electrical work if you are not licensed.
Pulling out the light switch like you have done is dangerous and shouldn’t be done. I’m assuming you turned the power off but still!
As per above make a list of things for an electrician to do. Once you have 3 or 4 call one.
Also to be clear this is a house you own right ?
turning off the power is the first step, the next step is to check if the switch is live, if so, return to step 1.
Maybe OP has shut of the mains and has tested the live wire with a multimeter.
Benefit of the doubt.
tested the live wire with a multimeter
Against what? There's no earth to connect to! ;)
You do not need an earth to test power to the circuit has been disconnected.
You don't event need to touch it using a non-contact tester.
Just swap it over to the best if your knowledge. Please make a video and upload to YouTube. Post link here when finished.
And when the upload has finished you’ll know your smoke alarm is working and the fire brigade needs to be called.
This is very standard wiring, nothing strange here.
If you don't understand it, you probably should not touch it.
Yes. So I am going to call electrician .
lighting is generally 2 wire?
If it's just an on-off switch, yes, 2 wires. If is a socket, more wires (depending on arrangement)
Light can have:
2 wires for one switch controlling a circuit (eg. bedroom)
3 wires for two switches controlling a circuit (eg. Either end of a hall way)
3 or 4 wires for more than two switches controlling a circuit (eg. office spaces, large rooms with multiple exits.)
Is normal.
Two ways to wire lighting circuits.
Run red black and earth to the light switch, and put the earth in a screw connector. (Loop at the switch)
Run red black and earth to the light fixture and 2 core down to the switch. (Loop at the light)
Well that's completely illegal. I'd definitely have a red hot crack when dealing with electricity though :|
I have found the experience electrifrying.
As said above it’s looped at the light , the light point is earthed and the switch plate is plastic and does not need earthing.
Two wires are looped actives and switch wires
Edit : Also call an electrician as I’ve seen first hand dodgy home jobs that end badly, home insurance finds out that it’s a DIY and your claim is voided
Such a shocking discovery.
Electrifying comment, mate.
Couldn't resist.
Ohm my gosh you guys have amped it up too much.
Light switches are commonly just switching the active (which sucks when you want to upgrade to smart switches and have no neutral).
Think you've gotten the idea now, but if you don't understand this stuff, don't touch it (aside from the legality of it)
OMG leave it alone before you go 6 feet under….what a question….
I pity the new owners when you sell
I don't attempt electrical repairs.
1 If I do does the RCD install protect me from electrocution?
2 I asked for the RCD to be installed many years ago
Was it installed to cover all existing circuits then? I assumed so
3 Does the RCD cover new circuits eg central air con installed since then?
Meaning did the electrician doing the air con do that as a legal requirement.
Grateful for any input
Bit hard to answer without seeing your switchboard.
That`s common that no ground wire connected to switches. And yes, switches are operating with live (red) contacts only. Excluding can be made for some electronic dinners that need neutral wiring.
However, I have more interesting question to the audience… :) As common, we have two different wiring lines at home- power (sockets or power points) and light. Both of them running with green (ground) wires located and looped separately from the red and black two core cables. I can see as a spider web on the attic made of green single core cables. They are connected with soldering and only insulated with ins. tape. Is this acceptable, please? One more question- is the earth for light and power points absolutely the same and I can connect them together (in case if I need some light unit grounded, or it must be a different earth cable for light fittings only, not connected to earth for power points at all? Thank you
I'm not sure on the legality of your earth wiring, but earth is earth. All the earth cables will end at a rod stuck in the ground.
That looks fine to me. AFAIK light switches don't need to be grounded the fittings are a different matter as are power points. The earth wire doesn't go through the switch. I'm not an electrician and by the sounds of it, neither are you.
Seriously though, if you need to ask this question you really shouldn't be messing around with those. If there are things you don't like about the electrical work, make a list and when you've got enough of them to make it worthwhile get an electrician around to do all of them. Apart from the obvious safety issues there are insurance and legal problems if you do your own electrical work. Simple things that you wouldn't even think to ask or know about that need to be done could have some pretty bad consequences.
Don't do this.