Wiring of ceiling light-help please!
Tef
Posts: 57 Forumite
I bought a new ceiling light for the lounge and am having difficulty with the wiring. The new light required me to remove the old ceiling rose so removed the pendant unscrewed the cover and took a pic of the wires in situ. https://imgur.com/hGCjVX2
Having done that I then removed the rose but was then faced with 3 T/E's, one more than I expected. Reading an earlier post on this forum I discovered that's the norm. All I had to do was identify the switch live and bingo bango :-) Or not... as it turned out... S/L wasn't marked so after further reading here on how to identify the S/L I bought a continuity tester and checked each cable but am getting nothing on any cable. I replaced the wall light switch with a basic switch (It was on a dimmer) and still nothing.
Continuity tester works fine but perhaps it's the wrong sort? This is the one I bought anyway.. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-675110-Continuity-Tester
At this point I'm stumped, light worked fine beforehand so no issues there. Short of calling in the professionals is there anything else I can do ?
Any advice would be really appreciated.
Having done that I then removed the rose but was then faced with 3 T/E's, one more than I expected. Reading an earlier post on this forum I discovered that's the norm. All I had to do was identify the switch live and bingo bango :-) Or not... as it turned out... S/L wasn't marked so after further reading here on how to identify the S/L I bought a continuity tester and checked each cable but am getting nothing on any cable. I replaced the wall light switch with a basic switch (It was on a dimmer) and still nothing.
Continuity tester works fine but perhaps it's the wrong sort? This is the one I bought anyway.. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-675110-Continuity-Tester
At this point I'm stumped, light worked fine beforehand so no issues there. Short of calling in the professionals is there anything else I can do ?
Any advice would be really appreciated.
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Comments
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get someone in. No body on here will be able to advise what the switched live is. I can tell you which one it was, but now the whole thing is down, you will have to test them all.Eat vegetables and fear no creditors, rather than eat duck and hide.0
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To do this yourself you need to
1) turn off at the mains
2) turn the light switch to on
3) separate all the reds and blacks in the ceiling and connect your tester across each red and black pair until it lights - that will be your switched live black, mark it with a piece of red electrical tape - switch the switch off your tester will go out.
http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/diy/electrics/light_fitting/light_ceiling_rose.jpg0 -
The black wire in your photo that's connected to the brown wire on the light should be the switched live. The red wire associated with it will be the live to the switch.
Other reds will be the permanent live in and out.
If you stick a continuity tester across those two wires and flick the light switch on and off, you should see continuity come and go.If it sticks, force it.
If it breaks, well it wasn't working right anyway.0 -
To do this yourself you need to
1) turn off at the mains
2) turn the light switch to on
3) separate all the reds and blacks in the ceiling and connect your tester across each red and black pair until it lights - that will be your switched live black, mark it with a piece of red electrical tape - switch the switch off your tester will go out.
http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/diy/electrics/light_fitting/light_ceiling_rose.jpg
Hi Molerat and thanks for the reply...
This is exactly what I've been doing and the tester does not illuminate on any of the the three cables.0 -
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The black wire in your photo that's connected to the brown wire on the light should be the switched live. The red wire associated with it will be the live to the switch.
Other reds will be the permanent live in and out.
If you stick a continuity tester across those two wires and flick the light switch on and off, you should see continuity come and go.
Yes, unfortunately the rose has now been removed so only have three bare cables projecting from the ceiling... And as I say the continuity tester is not lighting up across any of them. At this point I'm not sure whether I have the wrong type of continuity tester or if I'm doing something else wrong.0 -
Does the tester light when you connect it to itself ? Are you sure you have the switch turned on ? It is a normal switch and not a dimmer ?
Yes it does... And yes its a normal basic light switch. Switch in ON position no continuity at any cable. Switch in OFF position no continuity at any cable0 -
Your tester is simply a bulb, battery and wire and is suitable for this simple job. When the 2 ends are joined the bulb lights, as simple as that. When the light switch is on and you connect the tester across that red and black it will light. If it does not light across any of them you need to check the connections in the switch.
Are you sure you have connected to the correct terminals in the switch, if it has 3 you could have got the wrong 2. If the switch has a terminal marked COM you need to connect to that and to L1 or L2, if marked L1, L2 and L3 you need to connect across L1 and L2 or L3. Connecting across L1 and L2 in the first case or L2 and L3 in the second will not work.0 -
Your tester is simply a bulb, battery and wire and is suitable for this simple job. When the 2 ends are joined the bulb lights, as simple as that. When the light switch is on and you connect the tester across that red and black it will light. If it does not light across any of them you need to check the connections in the switch. Are you sure you have connected to the correct terminals in the switch, if it has 3 you could have got the wrong 2.[/QUOTE
Switch has 3 terminals L1, L2 & Comm. Blue is currently on L1 and brown is currently on Comm. This is the only switch for this light. Does that help?0 -
Switch has 3 terminals L1, L2 & Comm. Blue is currently on L1 and brown is currently on Comm. This is the only switch for this light. Does that help?
The three T&E's in the rose are the old black and red colours... if you've got blue and brown in the switch then something fishy is going on. It could just be the old switch wire has been partially replaced, but given the different colours and apparent lack of continuity, I'd want to do some more investigation.
Was the switch (not the original dimmer) known to be working before you wired it in? It's a long shot, but you may have a faulty switch?"In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"0
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