troublesome ceiling light fitting

mameha

The ceiling light in my hall no longer works. I changed the bulb but the problem remained. On further inspection I found that if I hold the wire where it attaches to the ceiling fitting and push it up, the bulb comes on. So I think I need to either fix or replace the ceiling fitting.

The problem is, it is not screwed in and I can't work out how to get it off. If I use force to get it off will it cause damage/be dangerous?

DTDfanBoy

It is most probably screwed into place, ie the entire round cover is threaded. Make sure you isolate the power to that circuit before doing anything, turning off the light switch is not isolating the circuit

pendragon_arther

As above, turn off at mains. It looks like it's been decorated over so will probably not unscrew. I'd be tempted to chisel out the cover with a cold chisel then you can unscrew the holding screws and replace.

societys_child

If you break it when trying to unscrew it, here's some new ones . . .

just the ceiling rose:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-ceiling-rose-white/28345

or complete:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-6-pendant-set-white/22210

. . . available everywhere, online/ local diy etc.

phoenix_w

societys_child wrote: »

If you break it when trying to unscrew it, here's some new ones . . .

Some money saving advice here. The cheap pendant sets from Toolstation "Axiom by CED" are awesome - £1.14 and the quality is superb - really rigid plastic. If there isn't a toolstation nearby buy a branded set like in societys child's post if you can. Last own brand ones I bought from screwfix were so flimsy it took me longer to fit the bleedin' screw on covers than it did to wire it up, ended up being a false economy.

mameha

thanks for the links!

I am actually intending to get a E27 fitting without a cord (a bit like a spotlight) as I want to use a motion sensor LED bulb (they only come in E27 fitting) so it will come on automatically when someone passes nearby.

ie. these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008OUHH8G/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009LWAEPY/

MX5huggy

Do you understand that there will be likely be 12 wires in the ceiling rose? As loop in wiring will have been used.

mameha

No idea what that means. I was assuming I could just connect the two wires to the new rose, but I am a total novice.

wealdroam

mameha wrote: »

I was assuming I could just connect the two wires to the new rose, but I am a total novice.

That is unlikely.

Once you have the cover off, it will probably look like this:

MX5huggy

And that one is an utter mess, you don't wrap wire round wire to make the connection! You shouldn't be able to see any copper.

phoenix_w

If you have loop wiring you just need to take extra care not to mix up the wires and keep them in the same terminals as before. Grab some electrical tape before you unscrew the wires from the ceiling rose so you can gather them up appropriately as if you mix them up it's a job for a spark to work out the continuity. Some light fittings have screw terminals that will let you put in loads of wires for each connection - it's worth checking this out when you're in the shop -if you have loop wiring it's much easier to use a fitting like that rather than using choc blocks.