On 22/01/19 12:56, Andy Burns wrote:

Martin Brown wrote:

Jeff Layman wrote:

I am replacing some old wall lights with some new Där fittings.

Surprisingly, not an IKEA product.

I was somewhat surprised to see that the wallplugs and screws
supplied were of different lengths. The wallplugs were 25mm x 5mm,
and the screws 35mm x 3.5mm. The diameters match well, but why
would you use a 35mm screw with a 25mm wallplug?

Is the object being screwed to the wall 10mm thick by any chance?

What was my first thought, which model?

https://www.darlighting.co.uk/products/wall-lights

BUR0975
https://www.darlighting.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/1694/s/bureau-double-wall-bracket-antique-brass-bur0975/

Needless to say, the instructions in the pack show a lot less info than
the pdf downloadable on that webpage. However, the diagram on page 4
shows the screws the same length as the wallplug! Not that it means
anything, of course, as fig 3.5 shows the cable going through a hole in
the bracket. The actual hole is 3mm in diameter! I have no idea what the
hole is for. It is also impossible to get the cable into the connector
block as Där have mounted the block deep in the body of the fitting,
giving no thought to how much cable might be available. I had to unscrew
it from the fitting before I was able to get the cable gripped properly.
But then, of course, it was not possible to get the connector block back
on its mounting. So I now have a loose block in the fitting.

NB to answer the point raised, the mounting bracket is about 1mm thick -
not 10. Considering that the weight of these fittings is pretty low, I
can see no reason for a 35mm screw; 25mm would have been fine.

As an amusing aside, these lights are going to replace the current wall
lights in the lounge, which are all picture lights. But these are all
different designs (there are two other picture lights - one in the hall,
one in the kitchen, which neither match each other nor any of the lounge
picture lights)! And then we come to the wiring, which is white PVC -
red, black, and earth, although I have yet to check if it actually /is/
earthed. And the cabling is very weird. Being a bungalow, you'd think it
pretty easy to have cables fed from the loft to the wall lights, but no.
Two of the lights do have cables from the loft. These are the two
nearest the wall switch. But only the one slightly further from the wall
switch is actually connected to it. The other, nearest, one is on a
separate unswitched cable. It is operated by a switch on the light
fitting itself. Now the one furthest away is turned on and off by the
wall switch, but not from cable in the loft. The wall switch also
controls an old 2 amp 3-pin lighting socket (which had a label on it
marked "disconnected" when we moved in!). That socket is right against
the outside wall, so whoever wanted the picture light drilled a hole
through the wall into the back of the socket, and took a spur to the
outside, through some conduit, then back into the lounge a couple of
metres away to feed the wall light.

And I have to fit a matching ceiling light. It would have to be wired up
through the loft, and it is awkward to get to. Maybe I'll get a pro in
to do that. I'm just concerned that the proverbial can of worms will be
opened if I do that...

--

Jeff