Some basic help for a first time security DIYer.

[Joel Thomas Moorhouse]

Morning all! Hoping someone can give me some help or advice!

 

I bought my house in feb of this year and immediately began doing the usual fixing and replacing. One thing I haven’t yet properly sorted is the Racal Guardall RLC1 light control unit that’s in my kitchen on the wall.

 

it was faulty when I moved in, in that if the rocker was in the centre nothing worked, but if I had the rocker on auto, or on, the light outside would stay permanently on. I can also see the light has a separate sensor further up the wall. Not sure if that’s what is broken so that it was always on when on auto or if it was the panel.

 

either way, I needed a security light up and quickly, so I removed the old light, put up a light with an integrated sensor and flicked the rocker to always on. This was I figured it would power the light and it’s sensor and job would be a good one! All worked as should up until this morning when my boiler wasn’t working. Breaker switch had gone, but this is labelled in the box as “light control unit”.

 

pit the breaker back to on, boiler now working but the light isn’t.

 

i suspect it’s taken it’s last breathe.

 

now because I’ve got the light with PIR outside already which literally has a mains going in to it from the wall, can I replace the RLC1 unit with just a normal light switch for example? 

 

Im really not up on where the power is pulled from for the light itself and how the box and sensor all triggers it. Assume there’s a relay somewhere so the box has power, sends that to the sensor, sensor says yep we see something then it flicks a relay in the box and that then send s power to the light? 

 

i want to avoid having to run any new cable through walls as it’s really not the weather right now for that! Blizzards galore up here in West Yorkshire! 

 

 muchly! Joel

[PeterJames]

It may be that your over complicating this as it sounds to me like the bulb blew and took out the trip. Of course I could be wrong.The Racall units used to have low voltage pirs that tripped the box and that then switched a relay and switched the light on, but the switch on the box over rides the pir and allows you to switch on the lights without triggering the low voltage pir. So if you have the box on over ride then you should be supplying 240 to the stand alone security light and it should work as a stand alone unit. 

[Joel Thomas Moorhouse]

38 minutes ago, PeterJames said:

It may be that your over complicating this as it sounds to me like the bulb blew and took out the trip. Of course I could be wrong.The Racall units used to have low voltage pirs that tripped the box and that then switched a relay and switched the light on, but the switch on the box over rides the pir and allows you to switch on the lights without triggering the low voltage pir. So if you have the box on over ride then you should be supplying 240 to the stand alone security light and it should work as a stand alone unit. 

Hi peter

 

thanks for the reply. Makes sense what you’re saying, except that since it was tripped, neither the auto or override does anything to power the light outside. I know it’s not a bulb as it’s a twin halogen bulb setup with individual feeds via a connector box in the housing so I can rule the bulb out. 

 

If if I wanted to strip the control box out (photo below) I should be able to replace with some kind of switch? 

[Joel Thomas Moorhouse]

Slight idea.... could I not link all the mains together through the connector blocks. So all the lives in to one, all the neutrals in to one and leave the earth as is? Essentially bypassing the box and sending mains power straight to the connection at the light outside all the time? 

[Joel Thomas Moorhouse]

26 minutes ago, Joel Thomas Moorhouse said:

Slight idea.... could I not link all the mains together through the connector blocks. So all the lives in to one, all the neutrals in to one and leave the earth as is? Essentially bypassing the box and sending mains power straight to the connection at the light outside all the time? 

Tried this and it still didn’t work

 

beginning to think the outside unit is at fault after all

 

 

[sixwheeledbeast]

Maybe water in the fitting or the bulb has blown.

Equally the Racal unit could have a fuse.

[PeterJames]

do you have a multi meter Joel?

[Joel Thomas Moorhouse]

31 minutes ago, PeterJames said:

do you have a multi meter Joel?

I do! In fact I just dug it out half hour ago! 

 

The live and neutral are showing 240 in. It also shows 240. There’s a little live loop cable that runs to the second from the third up to the 2nd up connector and that maintains the 240. Also

maimtains it down to the bottom live which should go outside so I think it must be the unit!

 

its a 25 year old halogen setup my step dad gave me unused but I think it’s that old I was lucky to get six months like I did!

 

new unit I think is needed and I’ll convert the panel in to a switch at a later date  

[PeterJames]

Theye are cheap nowadays get a LED one much more economical

 

[MrHappy]

9 hours ago, Joel Thomas Moorhouse said:

I bought my house in feb of this year and immediately began doing the usual fixing and replacing.

 

you get electrical survey/certs when you bought the house?