why would they sell a 2A lamp switch?

[Wal]

Cheers Clive,

Yeah - the bulb won't be drawing any more than 0.5A - but if it malfunctions and ends up drawing a bigger current I'd rather have the fuse blow than the switch melt, if you get me. I saw some 1A fuses in a small electrical shop in Didsbury yesterday - he reckoned he could get 2A, was just out of stock at the time. As far as the earth cable goes - the lamp has a two-core L/N 3A flex - am I best off replacing this with a 3-core and securing the earth cable to the metal chassis of the lamp? ie. perhaps the bracket that holds the bayonet fitting..?

Wal.

[Clive S]

Cheers Clive,

Yeah - the bulb won't be drawing any more than 0.5A - but if it malfunctions and ends up drawing a bigger current I'd rather have the fuse blow than the switch melt, if you get me. I saw some 1A fuses in a small electrical shop in Didsbury yesterday - he reckoned he could get 2A, was just out of stock at the time. As far as the earth cable goes - the lamp has a two-core L/N 3A flex - am I best off replacing this with a 3-core and securing the earth cable to the metal chassis of the lamp? ie. perhaps the bracket that holds the bayonet fitting..?

Wal.

Yes you need an earth cable to the lamp Just keep the 3A fuse they are different than the glass fuses I have never seen a smaller one fitted to a British 13A plug

[Wal]

>Yes you need an earth cable to the lamp Just keep the 3A fuse they are different than the glass fuses I have never seen a smaller one fitted to a British 13A plug

Okay - but it wasn't a glass fuse - it was a fuse for a household plug - like this: http://www.diy.com/departments/bq-1a.../177930_BQ.prd

I've seen 2A online, but not on the high street...

Wal.

[Clive S]

>Yes you need an earth cable to the lamp Just keep the 3A fuse they are different than the glass fuses I have never seen a smaller one fitted to a British 13A plug

Okay - but it wasn't a glass fuse - it was a fuse for a household plug - like this: http://www.diy.com/departments/bq-1a.../177930_BQ.prd

I've seen 2A online, but not on the high street...

Wal.

Ok Wal you win But I still would not use one as when a lamp is first lit it will draw a lot more current for a few m/seconds and might just blow a 1A fuse. But hey it is your decision

[Wal]

Heh - Clive - you know me, I know NUFFINK..!

I was just a bit confused as I'd have thought you'd want the fuse to blow before an unsuitably high current went further up the pipe... Dunno, maybe I'm just over-thinking it..!

Wal.

[m_c]

You are over thinking it.

While you are technically correct, even a 2A rated switch will more than likely survive switching a load that will blow a 3A fuse.
You've got to consider what kind of load that's likely to blow a 1A fuse, but not a 3A, and not be noticed in a basic lamp?
L&N would need to be shorted together in such a way that they only drew 2.5A, and what is the real possibility of that happening?

The far more likely fault, is L and/or N wires rub through on something earthed, in which case it should trip the RCD. Even if you don't have an RCD upstream of your sockets, you should notice a fault before it even gets to the point of blowing a 1A fuse.

[Web Goblin]

For a standard uk BS1363 square 3 pin plug the fuse sizes are 3amp and 13amp. There used to be 5 amp but this was done away with a few years ago.
So for your lamp fit a 3 amp fuse that complies with BS1362.