replacing a light pendant on the ceiling

spaceboy

I need to replace one after a heat producing bulb fried the old one. The new one has a wiring diagram that looks quite complicated but the old one was wired very simply. Is it ok to just copy the old wiring?

martyn05

I have replaced 3 pendants in my house, I just copied the wiring from the old ones, nothing hard about it. Turn the power off, replace it, turn the power back on and see if it works ok. I am no electrician and I managed ok.

spaceboy

I know it will work, I just wonder why the diagram that comes with the new pendant is so complicated? Is it a safer circuit design or something?

27col

Show us a picture of the wiring diagram.

spaceboy

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

The original wiring didnt make use of that row of wire screw attachments at the top of the diagram. And if you look at the diagram it appears to show the Live wire connected to the same block as the neutral on the left at the top.

ormus

old colors shown.
(just replace for the new colors).

take special note of A B C.
this is the switched live wire. usually marked with a bit of tape.

spaceboy

Interesting. The wiring just has one live, one neutral and one earth though so I can't do that.

pendulum

That picture you uploaded is of a ceiling rose configuration.
If you just have a cable coming down from the ceiling with positive, neutral and earth, you probably have a junction box system (rather than a ceiling rose system) which is much easier to wire up... just connect the three wires up to where they go.

* I'm not an electrician *

stevemcol

Yes you just have straight forward job of live to live, neutral to neutral, earth to earth.
The diagram is for a 'loop in' system where the original installation uses the roses as the junction boxes.

ormus

aye, i forgot to add that there are two main methods in uk light wiring.
the one i showed is the most common IME. there are usually two seperate light circuits, upstairs and downstairs.
with seperate fuses.

ive not seen a junction box system for many years.

http://www.flameport.com/electric/lighting_circuits/lighting_junction_boxes.cs4

doningtonphil

take a photo of the existing wiring before you disconnect anything.

I was replacing a rose once. I took a good look at the wiring (which colours went where and actually seperated them so that they were grouped together.

In the seconds I took to look down and pick up the new rose one of the wires 'sprung out of place' and so I had no clue where it should go.

The wiring did not match the provided diagram (it was a two way switch) and as there are so many ways these can be wired there was no chance of a quick phone call to someone fior advice. I got there in the end after a little bit of trial and error:eek:

If I had taken a photo it would have been a 2 min job