I'll answer my own question here as surely, considering the light itself is upstairs, it should be on the upstairs light circuit (as it was where I used to live). Not in my house though - in my house it's on the downstairs light circuit. All I can say is good job I tested the wires to see if they were live when I removed the light switch in the hall for decorating (after switching off the power to the upstairs lights in the consumer unit) otherwise I would have had a shock! Anyone else's landing light on the downstairs light circuit?
Mine is on upstairs. Though i have wired it 3 way as there is a bedroom to the front of the house, otherwise i would have to walk 4m in the dark. Also wired hallway light 2 way so it can be switched on/off both up and downstairs.
My landing light is on a 2 way switch with one switch being downstairs in the hall but the light is on the downstairs light circuit in the consumer unit. Surely it should be on the upstairs light circuit as the light itself is upstairs. Not seen it done like this before and I think it's bad practice. Shaver socket in the bathroom is also on the upstairs light circuit but I would have thought it should go on the ring main. All original electrics and the house was built in the 1990s. I think I'll ask my neighbour if their landing light is on the downstairs circuit.
I'm open to correction here, (obviously!), but I think it's not unusual for upstairs landing to be on downstairs circuit... It means that if the upstairs circuit goes off, you can still have enough lighting to stop you falling down the stairs. I suspect that once upon a time it was the normal thing to do. Both the 3 bedroom semis I have lived in were like that! Regards, Can
There is this: To work on the downstairs switch, you would need to isolate up AND down circuits, as you would have the upstairs live(and downstairs live) in the switch downstairs. But having it on the downstairs circuit, isolating the downstairs would mean you can work on upstairs AND downstairs switches, AND the landing and hall light! Mr. HandyAndy - Really
There is no right or wrong way, you can have any combination of lights up and down, down or up on what ever circuit you wish its the same for sockets and every other circuit. You nearly made the mistake of "assuming" and we all know what that can lead too... Its all about testing correctly that the circuit is turned off. Mind you you could of have it wired as the common practice used to be of using the live from a downstairs circuit and neutral from the upstairs circuit for the landing light, now that way is wrong
I'm not disputing what you say, but if you can have any combination of lights up or down, down or up, then what is the point of the circuit being marked 'lights upstairs' or 'lights downstairs' on the consumer unit? Surely, the circuit marked 'lights downstairs' should feed the lights that are downstairs and the circuit marked 'lights upstairs' should feed the lights that are upstairs.
well the problem isn't the fact the circuit is wired wrong then.. you fuse board is marked up correctly.. either way never rely on what a sticker may or may not say, check and double check, the next time you don't check may be the last time you get to do anything!!!
Thing is, any experienced or even not so experienced electrician will know that one of the switches will be live even though the circuit for that floor has been switched off. Just the same as they will know that the black wire at a switch will generally be live and not neutral.
As already mentioned it is most common to find the landing light on the downstairs circuit so that the two way switches only have one supply. It was also common to grab a neutral from the upstairs circuit but that's very dangerous and should be rectified after any decent inspection. Lighting wiring has been done in so many ways over the years you can never rely on a logical install unless you've done it yourself so check, check, check again! My solution? Have a third lighting circuit to do all the 'non-room' areas (or access areas!). That way if the room lighting trips, you still have light in the access areas . For example, outside lighting, porch, hall, landing, loft on this third circuit. That way there's still only one supply at switches
Dipster has mentioned the reason its done. Its to avoid shared circuits (and the shared neutral/ shared phase on two circuits). RCDs will just trip every time the landing light is switched on.
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