Another vague post.

[G0BHD]

Light fittings, what is it these days that every light fiting almost that you buy comes with a pre fitted often impossible to replace flying connection lead?
These even include outside lights be they wall lights or security type.
Just had to fit sixteen external old fashioned style coach lamps, the building was pre wired as usual, cable drops inside the building to wherever the future wall lights would sit outside, cable hole drilled and poked outside, and inside capped and plastered over.
Along come the architects "spec'ed" external wall fittings, everyone of them with a short back entry sealed flying lead, no way to simply fit to the wall losing the already poking outside ends, and needing some sort of connection, to use the pre fitted flying lead!
Who makes bloody wall lights with molded flying leads?
Best of it, the cable was not even in the center of the fitting, looking at the back it was extreme top right corner?
Now when wiring for outside wall lights you usually aim your hole at the middle of the fitting, as on this building for example the wall lights are dead center of the brick work pillars between the Georgian original windows.
What moron in R and D invented that idea, A: of a flting lead, and B: of an extreme offset cable?
The "buyer", insisted that these bought at great expense from some posh lighting company, were to be fitted, and we spent all day ripping the damn things apart, including drilling out pop rivets, and modifying them to allow fixed external wiring not requiring its flying lead!
Total ball ache, cos someone in "design" at the manufacturer has NO damn idea how external wall lights usually terminate!
We told him straight, we will fit them, but your guarantee will be void.
We had also wired and capped for wall lights on the internal staircase of the building, up three flights of stairs, done exactly the same "normal" way, wiring capped down to where light would sit eventually, and just plastered over brick.
They arrived, ALSO with a damn sealed flying lead out of the back!
Now you have either to knock out a decent hole in the brick and plaster work to lose a connection, or again as we had to do, modify every bleeding internal stairs wall light fitting to accommodate the already fixed and quite normal method of wiring!
When did sealed short flying leads become the new norm on internal/external wall mounted luminaires?
What a damn stupid idea!

[M0HJO]

I've had the very same at the Luxury Lodges place I work at!

Now, I still down with management and tell them what's a go and what's not!

I got fed up with the "not finished putting up those lights yet" they have no idea.

Same with the new pizza ovens for behind the bar, "what you need to put a new cable run in for them, cant they just go into a socket"

[Sangoma]

I thought it was only Chinese lights that came like this.

Lead sealed in resin, and far too short to connect to anything, why only 6"?

If it was 18", you could often get it to a junction box (wouldn't help much with you though)

And the back of the mounting is always to shallow to use screwits to connect the wire (forgotten what screwits are called here)

Fortunately most of us don't have the problem very often

[G0BHD]

I feel your pain John!
Some of the "think on your feet crap" we have had to cope with on this job, just cos stuff arrives that makes no God damn electrical sense in the real Sparkies world, is beyond belief!
Bottom line some sweat shop in China is churning them out ten a penny, with no bleeding idea nor concept of how easy they are to fit in the real World!
They in turn of course are bought in droves by so called "bespoke" lighting companies over here, who equally have no damn idea how the hell you are going to actually fit them, but simply put a huge chunk on the buy in price and sell on!
These wall "Antique Coach Lamp" lights were £300 EACH!..... Huge things look like the opening scenes of Dixon of Dock Green, if you remember that of course, I told the guy straight, I would not beg one mate at that price!