I'm trying to add smart light switches (I was thinking of Shelly 2.5) to my appartment, but the problem is my lightswitch enclosure doesn't have neutral wires. It just has a live wire that enters the lightswitch, exits and goes on to the lightbulb. The lightbulb has a neutral wire which completes the circuit. This is standard electrical wiring over here in Eastern Europe.
I'd like to run a new conductor from the junction box to my lightswitch 1-1.5m through an existing kopex tube with 3 existing conductors.
Question is what's the best way to do this?
I tried stuffing the conductor down the kopex tube but it got stuck after about 15 cm. The tube diameter is larger than the wires, but perhaps they've bent and twisted inside.
Would an electrical fishing rod work for adding the wire without removing the existing wires?
Thanks!
Best Answer
Without knowing the details for the Kopex tube (though it looks like it's probably some sort of flex conduit from a quick search) The normal way to "add wires to conduit" unless it's a very short distance is to shut off the power to the affected circuit(s); disconnect the wires at one end; attach a rope; pull the wires out the other end; pulling the rope in, attach the new wire, and pull them all back in together.
While this appears (to the uninitiated) to be a lot more bother than "just adding a wire" there is no "just" to adding a wire unless it's a very short, preferably straight section of conduit.
If there's no wire in the conduit in the first place, pulling a string in with a vacuum or getting a fish tape through are typical ways to get started. My personal experience favors the vacuum.
Using a fish tape or rod in a conduit with wires in place risks damaging the insulation on those wires and generally gets all tangled up in them anyway.