[Question] Gate motor\lights\Electric fence compliance

[Ferdie_l]

Hi

When I baught a property 2 years ago, the electrical CoC was in order. I do however have a question. I the garage there was another small DB board with a couple of breakers. These are for the electric fence, gate motor and some lights which are on day\night sensors. I also realized that this smaller board is fed from a plug point in the garage and not from the house main DB board. Is this legal?

Ferdie

[AndyD]

Probably not legal but difficult to say without lots more info. Maybe get a local electrician to cast his/her beady eye over it and give you some advice.

[Ferdie_l]

Thank you very much.

I have another question.

So in the lapa I have a DB board which is fed from a separate cable with a circuit breaker from the main feed into the property (with it's own 30A breaker). Inside the DB board there is a transformer for the 12v LED pool light. The 12v output from the transformer is wired to 1 of the 4 core wires which goes to the pool via an undergroung cable, however the other terminal from the 12v winding is connected to the neutral. Which means at the pool side, the light is connected between the 12v live from the transformer and the neutral. This means the transformer secondary is not completely isolated from the primary. Is this good or bad (legal)?

[SOLARWIND]

It should be totally isolated, so I suggest you remove the connection to the neutral and let the 12V "float" between the two secondary wires feeding the 12V light.

[Ferdie_l]

Thanks Solarwind,

I thought that much. I will have to get another damp proof box installed by the pump and move the transformer into that box with 2 breakers for the pump and lights, then remove the light from the neutral and connnect it to the secondary terminals of the transformaer but leave the earth leakage intact.

[Dave A]

I the garage there was another small DB board with a couple of breakers. These are for the electric fence, gate motor and some lights which are on day\night sensors. I also realized that this smaller board is fed from a plug point in the garage and not from the house main DB board. Is this legal?

A socket-outlet shall supply only one fixed appliance. (6.16.1.5 of SANS 10142-1).

One has to be mindful that a fixed appliance may be a made up of a collection of individual electrical items. The classic example is a pool control panel that only supplies the pool's pump and the pool light. In this situation this can be considered a control panel for a single fixed appliance. Add circuits for the lights and a socket outlet in the poolside gazebo, and the "control panel" is now a distribution board supplying multiple fixed appliances and may not be supplied by a socket outlet.