Wiring of ceiling light-help please!

simonhgreen

Hi guys

I wonder if anyone can help.

I bought a couple of new light for the lounge. The instructions are quite simple and the first one went up no problem.

However (Sod's Law enters at this point) when I opened the 2nd ceiling, the wires were a bit different!

Instead of 3 wires (black, red & earth) I have 6!!

2 red, 2 black & and 2 earth. They appear to be two lots of 3 wires from different cables.

I did notice that the two red wires were joined together and not into the old light at all. I also think one of the black wires was not connected to the old light (unless it had become dislodged). The earth wires were joined together.

I've tried every permutation I can think of and it won't work on the new light. The best I have managed is that the light is on permanently, no matter what position the dimmer switch is in-even when it's off!

I know it sounds simple in that I appear to have double the amount of wires so just put them in the corresponding blocks, but why would I have two cables going to the same light?

Any advice anyone can give would be much appreciated.

Thanks

aliasojo

All my lights have two wires.....they are on a ring circuit so there's one wire 'in' and one wire 'out'.

Someone more knowledgeable than me will have to advise you on what to do though.....

Slider

Typial ceiling rose wiring...

Red - Always live
Black - neutral
Green / yellow - earth.

***Black with a small red sleeve - This is the switched live.

If changing a fitting to one that only has a 3 way connector, you will need a terminal connector to join the other cables and then tuck it into the ceiling void.

You should end up as follows.

All the reds, connected together.

All the blacks connected together. Then connect the blue from the light fitting into this group.

The black with a red sleeve, connected to the brown of the light fitting.

All green / yellows connected together.

---lee---

Three cables with three wires in each is the norm. One cable should be the lighting ring in, one cable should be the lighting ring out, the last cable should be the switch cable.

Before removing a light fitting, you should label each of the wires or cables if you don't know what your doing. I know that's a bit late at this stage.

You can determine which cables and wires are which using a continuity tester with the power switched off at the consumer unit.

With the mains power off AT THE CONSUMER UNIT/FUSEBOX and the light switch turned on, test for continuity between the black and red wires in each cable. One cable only should show continuity. Label this one the switch cable and put it to one side. Switch the light switch off and test it again - there should be no continuity this time.

The two remaining cables should be the lighting loop in and out. Label one as lighting loop in and one as lighting loop out (it does not matter which is which for our purposes).

How you go about connecting them to the light fitting depends on what is provided with the fitting. Is it a ceiling rose, terminal block or junction box?

simonhgreen

Hi guys

Thanks for the advice so far, but it seems that it's slightly different from the situations you have described;

There aren't 3 cables with 3 wires, there are 2 cables, each with 3 wires.

The cables are identical: 1 black, 1 red, 1 earth, all contained in a grey cable.

There is not a black cable with a red sleeve (or vice versa).

The earths were definitely together when the old light came out, as were the reds.

The new light fitting has a built in terminal block with brown, blue, and earth coming from the new light into the block.

The block also has a terminal at the end entitled "loop".

Does this shed any light as to the way forward?

Thanks very much.

zincoxide

Can you take a picture and post it for us to look at?

zincoxide

Also take a picture of the new fitting so we can tell you exactly how to wire it up.

simonhgreen

Gladly, but how do I attach a picture to a reply?

mx-3

right here we go no messing.

connect the 2 reds in a connector.
connect one of the blacks to to the brown on the light fitting.
connect the other black to the blue on the light fitting.
It does not matter on a light fitting which way round the live/neutral are.Connect the earth ( there are probably 2 with either green sleeving on...........or no sleeving to the earth on the fitting.

one of the blacks is a switched live & the other is a neutral.

sorted

simonhgreen

Thanks, but it still won't play.

Put the reds together & connected as you suggested but still there's nothing.

Could there be any other possibilities?

it's not the fuse as the other lights are working fine.

tomstickland

Maybe you just want
red-red on the live terminal of the fitting
black-black on the neutral terminal
earth - earth obviosully