ᐅ Cable for exterior light too short

Hi,

I might have been a bit too thorough when stripping the cables. In any case, now I probably have about 0.5 cm (0.2 inches) of cable sticking out of the thermal insulation. How can I extend them or have an electrician extend them?

Regards,
StarAce

Small cable and, if necessary, electrical tape (although a terminal block might be the better choice) – just make sure no water can reach it and that the power is switched off when you work on it.

A terminal block is not suitable because the lamp is placed directly on it, meaning the opening through which the cable passes. The terminal block is too thick.

Then strip a small section of the cable on both sides, twist the wires on one end with the cable stub, and securely insulate both open connection points (of course, ensuring the wires cannot touch each other).

Some of the tips here sound quite risky, even for a layperson like me, who has an electrician as a father and therefore has some basic knowledge. I would strongly advise against repairing cables by simply twisting them together; this is not professional and definitely won’t work here. The cable is probably 1.5 mm² (0.0023 square inches), which you cannot properly twist together within a length of 5 mm (0.2 inches). Furthermore, this would be extremely dangerous in terms of fire safety. Even terminal blocks are no longer the current standard. Electricians today generally use Wago connectors for fire protection reasons.

You should definitely consider hiring a professional. However, they will probably face a problem that is not easy to fix properly. A length of 5 mm (0.2 inches) is very short to repair anything. I believe a professional will need to replace the cable if the repair is to be done correctly. Unless your measurement of 0.5 cm (5 mm / 0.2 inches) is significantly underestimated — 5 mm is barely enough to grip the cable.

Yeah, I’ll give the electrician a call.