I am replacing some internal wall lights, the wiring simply emerges out of the plaster and is terminated with a terminal strip which is housed within the hollow of the old wall lights wall fixing. The problem is that the amount of wire sticking out of the wall is insufficient to connect to the new wall light and needs extending a few centimetres. This cannot be done within the new fitting which has a back plate with just a small hole to allow wires to pass through, is it OK to hollow out some of the plaster to accommodate the terminal block then cover it with the backplate of the light fitting or is there some better and critically legal method of doing this.

Richard

In article ,
Tricky Dicky writes:
I am replacing some internal wall lights, the wiring simply emerges out of the plaster and is terminated with a terminal strip which is housed within the hollow of the old wall lights wall fixing. The problem is that the amount of wire sticking out of the wall is insufficient to connect to the new wall light and needs extending a few centimetres. This cannot be done within the new fitting which has a back plate with just a small hole to allow wires to pass through, is it OK to hollow out some of the plaster to accommodate the terminal block then cover it with the backplate of the light fitting or is there some better and critically legal method of doing this.

That's what's normally done.

I have used flush mounting back boxes which are BESA-box size,
and the mounting screws at 2" apart match many wall light
fixing holes.

I bought a load from CPC many years ago, but I can't quickly
find anyone who sells them anymore. You could use a real BESA
box, but it would disturb plasterwork which is probably beyond
that covered by the light wall plate.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Thanks Andrew I will go ahead with that. I too considered a Besa box but have not seen them around. The light fittings do not have fixing holes that match any back box so its going to be hollow out a small section of plaster for the terminal strip and extend the wires through the hole into the light fitting.

Richard

On Monday, November 25, 2013 7:29:11 PM UTC, Tricky Dicky wrote:
I am replacing some internal wall lights, the wiring simply emerges out of the plaster and is terminated with a terminal strip which is housed within the hollow of the old wall lights wall fixing. The problem is that the amount of wire sticking out of the wall is insufficient to connect to the new wall light and needs extending a few centimetres.

Crimps and heatshrink.

If a BESA (circular) box isn't suitable, some styles of light will fit over an architrave box.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/AP119.html

Owain