Pull Cord Switch in a Ceiling Rose

The part that decides whether the light behaves: a 6 amp cord switch, which is the switch a bathroom may have inside it.

Bathroom lighting is the one part of a house where getting it wrong is a safety matter rather than a taste matter, and it is sold almost entirely on photographs. Every listing here states the zone the fitting may be installed in, the IP rating with both digits explained, the colour rendering index, the lumen output and the efficacy in lumens per circuit watt. If a fitting is not suitable above a bath we say so on the page you are buying it from. If a mirror is backlit and will not light your face, we say that too.

Specification

• Zone: zone 2 and outside the zones. Zone 2 is the 600mm band beyond zone 1 and the 600mm radius around a washbasin tap. It is not rated for zone 1, which means not directly over the bath
• IP rating: IP44. The first digit, 4, means protected against solid objects over 1mm. The second digit, 4, means protected against splashing water from any direction. It is the minimum for zone 2 and it is not enough for zone 1
• Dimensions: standard back box or a driver case, and the case dimensions are on the drawing
• Light output: not applicable, this is a control or a supply
• Colour temperature: not applicable
• Colour rendering: not applicable to a control. It is the driver quality that decides whether the fitting it feeds flickers, which is why we sell drivers as a named part rather than as a mystery inside a box
• Dimming: not applicable
• Electrical: Class 2 unless stated. Every driver here is a named part with a datasheet, and it is stocked as a spare for ten years
• Fire rating: not applicable to a wall or surface mounted fitting
• Standards: BS EN 61347 for the driver, BS EN 61558-2-6 for the transformer, BS EN 60669 for the switch, UKCA and CE marked
• Weight: approximately 0.20 kilograms
• Guarantee: five years on the fitting and the LED module, two years on the driver
• Position: a driver or a transformer must be accessible for maintenance. A driver sealed into a plasterboard void is a future ceiling repair
• Headroom: size a driver at 80 per cent of its rating. A driver run at its limit runs hot and a hot driver is a short driver
• Compatibility: tell us what fittings you are running and we will confirm the combination before you order
• Zone: controls and drivers go outside the zones unless they are specifically rated, and most are not

What arrives

• the item
• a datasheet with the part number
• installation instructions
• terminal screws and a gland where needed

Installation

A registered electrician. Electrical work in a room containing a bath or a shower is notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations in England and Wales. That means it has to be done by a registered electrician or signed off by building control. Replacing a like for like fitting on an existing circuit is not notifiable. Adding a new circuit, a new socket or a new spur is. Put the driver somewhere you can reach it again. That single decision is the difference between a ten minute repair and a ceiling.

Choosing between this and the alternatives

Nearly every complaint about LED lighting is a driver complaint. Flicker at low brightness, a step at 15 per cent, a buzz on the dimmer, lights that come on at different times: all driver. So we sell drivers as named parts with datasheets and part numbers, we stock them for ten years, and we will confirm a dimmer and driver combination before you order rather than after you have wired it in.