Percyprod
New User
I've noticed over time a few people asking about installing lights etc. In stables. I am a qualified electrician, although not to part P of the regs, as for several years I worked for the local electricity board, which aren't covered by the 17th edition, so I thought I might be able to give some pointers. If you don't have mains electricity then the best idea is of course 12 volt lighting. Before we got mains installed I had this system. I used a 120amp/hour battery with a 100 watt solar panel and used 10 watt led floodlights. I had 4 of these and they gave a pretty god level of light. We only used them for a max of 1 hour in the evening, but we never had to charge the battery. As for the wiring I used plastic conduit, with 2.5mm cable, although a smaller size would do, but as it is only 12 volt it helps to prevent volt drop if the cable runs are lengthy. Switches were waterproof mains ones, which work fine. Our set up is 2 12X12 stables and a 12X12 store in a line. All switches were put in the store, and the lights out of reach of the horses.
When we had the mains installed we put more lights in. I installed 50 watt led floodlights, one in each stable and the store, three outside on the front and one at each end. I used the same plastic conduit, but only 1.00mm cable, the conduit gives good mechanical protection, but again nothing is in reach of the horses. I would never just clip the cable to the wall without protection. I also installed a dual socket in the store, all switches and fittings are waterproof to ip66. The socket has a built in 30ma rcd, and the consumer unit also has one so that the whole installation is protected. It is worth noting that in a situation with lots of water and condensation around that rcds are used. The shock from a light is the same you will get from a cooker circuit or even the supply coming in. There is a saying volts jolts, mills kills. This means that if you get a shock from say an electric fence at 5000 or even 10000 volts, as there is very little current it wont kill you, but about 100 thousandths of an amp will, so the rcd is vital. If your stable is separate from a house, ie in a field, it is not a dwelling, so you can wire yourself, but if it is part of a dwelling, not necessarily physically attached you need to get it certified and inspected by a registered person. Needless to say, if you are at all uncertain about doing any electrical work dont do it! The other thing is the danger is not only from shock, burns are probably more likely. In the electricity industry all our clothes were flameproof, and we had to wear a full face mask, and rubber gauntlets with leather over gloves when working on or near live equipment. The other thing is always assume a circuit is live, always test before working on it. A neon tester is not sufficient, test lamps or a meter should be used, and they should be proved. If you switch off the consumer unit to work on the wiring, put a note on ut saying what you are doing, it's sod's law if you don't some one will come and switch it back on!
Sorry to be long winded, but hope this info is of some help.
When we had the mains installed we put more lights in. I installed 50 watt led floodlights, one in each stable and the store, three outside on the front and one at each end. I used the same plastic conduit, but only 1.00mm cable, the conduit gives good mechanical protection, but again nothing is in reach of the horses. I would never just clip the cable to the wall without protection. I also installed a dual socket in the store, all switches and fittings are waterproof to ip66. The socket has a built in 30ma rcd, and the consumer unit also has one so that the whole installation is protected. It is worth noting that in a situation with lots of water and condensation around that rcds are used. The shock from a light is the same you will get from a cooker circuit or even the supply coming in. There is a saying volts jolts, mills kills. This means that if you get a shock from say an electric fence at 5000 or even 10000 volts, as there is very little current it wont kill you, but about 100 thousandths of an amp will, so the rcd is vital. If your stable is separate from a house, ie in a field, it is not a dwelling, so you can wire yourself, but if it is part of a dwelling, not necessarily physically attached you need to get it certified and inspected by a registered person. Needless to say, if you are at all uncertain about doing any electrical work dont do it! The other thing is the danger is not only from shock, burns are probably more likely. In the electricity industry all our clothes were flameproof, and we had to wear a full face mask, and rubber gauntlets with leather over gloves when working on or near live equipment. The other thing is always assume a circuit is live, always test before working on it. A neon tester is not sufficient, test lamps or a meter should be used, and they should be proved. If you switch off the consumer unit to work on the wiring, put a note on ut saying what you are doing, it's sod's law if you don't some one will come and switch it back on!
Sorry to be long winded, but hope this info is of some help.
