Hi all,

moved to Neuchâtel from Twickenham last week - my first time living in another country and my head is spinning!

I've got quite a few questions but the one at the front of my mind today is concerning power sockets that are in the ceiling in every room in our apartment. Does anyone know what these are for? I'm assuming they are for lights as there are no other light fittings in the rooms, but it seems really odd to have a power socket up there? Can you buy those types of light fittings over here?

Also, they are not positioned in the centre of the ceiling but along the edges - so not very practical for lights anyway?

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers

Simon

Normally these type of installations are switched from the wall light switch..any pics to clarify what sort of "sockets" they are....

swiss like their plug in mood lighting....:-) welcome to the spinningness

Yep - I think they are controlled by the master light switch in the room and they are just standard 3 pin swiss sockets

Hello, welcome to CH.
I also have some of these, and I plug my lights into them. As skyhigh says, they should be switched off the wall. Plug a normal lamp in to see.

From the DIY shops you can buy Swiss 3 pin sockets, usually in white and black. Best thing with your electrics is put new plugs on ASAP, saves a lot of hassle using UK adaptors.

I used to live in teddington by the way.

Yeah - I spent a productive evening changing all my plugs over last night

Do you plug normal lights in and trail cable all the way down to where the lights sit, or do you have special ceiling lights? Surely gravity would just pull any light fitting out of the socket?

I'm in an attic so there are beams I hang the lights off.
I've seen all sorts of cableing nightmares here, with wires running down walls etc.
You may need to look at conduit.

Swiss electrics particularly in older houses leave a lot to be desired! you could consider putting some spots on the wall, if you have an industrial hammer drill to drill the wall that is...

best of luck its mostly us ex pats that do DIY ...most of the swiss just get a (very expensive) man in.

We used to have these in our old house - you can get these ceiling lights that you clip onto wires in loads of shops - usually there is a transformer to plug in. So we basically plugged the transformer in up there and screwed it to the wall/ceiling and then ran the wires across the ceiling.

I guess a picture would help with that description .... will see if I can find one!

Welcome to my native Neuchatel. I moved to Isleworth in 1970 (for 6 months that lasted 40+ years) and shared a flat above the launderette with a bunch of nurses- happy days. Actually met my OH on the train to Twickers!

Will you be coming to our Neuchatel area Christmas raclette on Sunday 4th December - we will be quite a bunch- so great opportunity to meet the local expats. See events. Hope to see you there. In the meantime, I haven't got a clue about those lights, but do ask if you have any other 'sensible' questions, lol.

And in Switzerland you get to share a laundry room below your flat.

Cheers,
Nick

And +1 to that.

If you haven't tried drilling Swiss concrete, let me warn you that Mr B Monkey is not joking about the industrial hammer drill.

When I first came here, I expended two fairly decent Bosch masonry bits on putting in one ceiling fitting. They wore down to threads in a few minutes. These same bits had happily made hundreds of holes in English walls.

For debate lol - which is best. (that flat was dire - damp and dingy).