Ceiling Light Wiring Problem

tommytadge

All help is much appreciated.

Gus, your diagram seems to be as i have wired it, except i only have 2 cables (what appears to be supply in and cable from switch).

Fitting more than one wire into a terminal point was a tight squeeze, but all seemed secure.

Just can' t get my head around this problem.

keystone

The_Mighty_Gusset wrote: »

Because it's not working as it should !

LoL - of course but its not necessarily a case of he's "wired it wrong" . So how is the way he's connected his conductors incorrect?

Cheers

keystone

tommytadge wrote: »

Fitting more than one wire into a terminal point was a tight squeeze, but all seemed secure.

"tight squeeze" and "seemed secure" say to me you should double check them tomorrow.

Cheers

newbie1980

it may be the light is the middle of the three so it maybe that the reds(live) are live switch and the 1 black(u say switch) and 2 black neutral may be both nuetral as they are just looped of light 1 or 3 as the switching is done there

so reds to live black to neutrals

is it there dim as u are only getting so much back voltage back down the neutrals

keystone

tommytadge wrote: »

Gus, your diagram seems to be as i have wired it, except i only have 2 cables (what appears to be supply in and cable from switch)

To be fair to Gus that doesn't matter and you just have to imagine it without the out cable. Your light will be the last one on the ring so you won't have the out cable. The diag he's posted is prolly the clearest one around that has the two way switching shown as well.

Does this one help any better:

.

Bearing in mind that you have older coloured cores on your in and switch lines.

Cheers

tommytadge

keystone wrote: »

"tight squeeze" and "seemed secure" say to me you should double check them tomorrow.

Cheers

Yeah, will do.

Is it possible to replace the terminal block in the light fitting with a bigger one, or is that a no-no.

jrrowleyws

tommytadge wrote: »

Yeah, will do.

Is it possible to replace the terminal block in the light fitting with a bigger one, or is that a no-no.

If its a normal "chocolate box" style terminal block (the type which you buy in a long stri)p and a larger one will fit then there is nothing wrong with changing it, I had to do it in my kitchen to fit in the million wires that were in the ceiling! Just be careful incase the light fitting is faulty and you want to take it back!

keith969

tommytadge wrote: »

These neon mains testers that Keith suggested. How do i go about checking with one of these ? Not sure i would be confident enough to test anything with the power still connected, if that is how it is done.

Just have the terminal block accessible and the power on. Hold the neon tester body between your thumb and fingers, with your index finger on the metal bit on the cap. Then touch the screwdriver blade on each screw in the terminal block in turn. If the neon lights up its live. Won't give you any more useful info than that, to find out more you need a multimeter.

zax47

keith969 wrote: »

Just have the terminal block accessible and the power on. Hold the neon tester body between your thumb and fingers, with your index finger on the metal bit on the cap. Then touch the screwdriver blade on each screw in the terminal block in turn. If the neon lights up its live. Won't give you any more useful info than that, to find out more you need a multimeter.

No - don't do that. If you've just bought a neon tester on this advice, take it back for a refund. Otherwise throw it in the bin and spend less than £10 on a basic multimeter.

No electrician (and I AM one) would been seen dead (pun intended!) with one of these "coffin-fillers" in his toolbox and neither should you!! :eek:

keith969

zax47 wrote: »

No electrician (and I AM one) would been seen dead (pun intended!) with one of these "coffin-fillers" in his toolbox and neither should you!! :eek:

Not sure why you say that - they're quite safe as long as you understand their limitations; I've used one for over 40 years. IMHO a multimeter is more dangerous in the wrong hands.