Help! Tried to fit new ceiling rose now it's dark

patthecat

OK so I decided to get rid of the chandeliers in my house and replace them with 3 basic ceiling roses; I've already done this in a few rooms but something has gone wrong and we have no lights.

The wife is not happy with me

I have attached a diagram and would be over the moon if anyone could see any problems. The issue is that the lights in the living room won't turn on. No fuses are blowing, everything else is working (including light #3) it's just that those lights will not switch on. I have tested the bulbs and they are fine.

I wired lights 1 & 2 as per the instructions on the rose itself, and identified which were the switch wires with my multimeter. For light #2 there were no switch wires so I put them in the place where the other non-switch wires went in light #1.

Note after wiring up light #3 I get a negative result when testing for switch wires on light #1...

I have a diagram but can't post links.

i.imgur.com/I1zQWb1.jpg

Le_Kirk

Here is your picture.

Light 1 should work as you have linked lives in the centre block with what appear to be switched live and N coming in, connected to the cables for the light going out. Light 2 will not work as you only have one live coming in connected to a block and going nowhere and a N coming in and the light cable going out. You have the Live cable going out but there is nothing connected to it's block. I would tentatively suggest that the red should be connected into the block with the brown outgoing cable BUT I would be checking that the black and red coming in are the switched pair OR they could be coming from the Light 1. If they are coming from Light 1, then the problem may be there.


For Light 3, on the face of it, it should work as you seem to have connected it correctly. I would just make sure that the three red cables connected to the centre block are all live and you haven't inadvertently swopped one for a switched cable.

patthecat

Thanks! I am 99.9% confident that light #3 is correct as I marked the 2 red cables that go into the live box and the others were easily separated between reds and blacks.

Light #2 I think comes from light #1 - I have tried putting a wire on L and N but it still doesn't work.

I have since discovered my light outside (which is fed from light #3) also doesn't work.

I am wondering if I have pulled one of the cables out inside the ceiling? I did pull them quite hard to work on them.

Le_Kirk

Let's deal with light #2. One has to deduce that with only one pair of cables (red and black) that it is fed from light #1. Now looking at light #2 ceiling rose, there is no cable feeding the block to which you have connected your light fitting. On the left block you have a black (let's say Neutral) and a blue going to the light fitting. On the right block you have a brown going to the light fitting but nothing feeding the block. I would think that the single red going into the centre block is supposed to go into the right hand block. BUT I wouldn't put it in there until I had proven it had power to it (between the red and black) when I switch on. If it is fed from light#1, we need to fix that first. In light #1 ceiling rose you have two reds connected together in the centre block which would normally be live in and live to switch. You then have a pair of blacks, one of which would need to be a neutral and one would need to be the switched wire. There does not appear to be enough wires to feed light #2. Therefore could light #2 be fed from the dimmer switch? I would disconnect all the cables from light #1 and determine with my meter which one is live by metering between red and earth and then having proven the live one, meter between it and each of the blacks in turn to determine which one is a neutral. If only one of them is a neutral, the other one and the other red will be the switch pair. I would also then check the light switch to check out its connections and how many cables it has.

patthecat

OK I rewired light #2 and light #3 - the only issue now is that lights 1 & 2 are very dim, as if not getting enough juice.

:(:(

patthecat

OK I rewired light #2 and light #3 - the only issue now is that lights 1 & 2 are very dim, as if not getting enough juice.

:(:(

From reading online I think light #1 is an end of loop rose - and light #2 is a kind of slave coming directly off it. Someone on this forum (many years back) suggested sticking red with red and black with black but another poster said this will "go bang".

Here is light #1 how it's wired. i.imgur.com/hAj4aRw.jpg

Le_Kirk

Here is your image. I am wondering if it is the dimmer switches that are not suitable for the type of light you have fitted. If it was me, I would be temporarily wiring a standard switch in place of the dimmer and checking out the wiring that way. Of course, you need to ensure the power is off before replacing dimmer (as I am sure you have been doing all along).


Have you made any changes to light #2?

Owain_Moneysaver

Sounds like you have wired lights 1 and 2 in series, i.e. you have the blue (or black) neutral wire from the lampholder of one light connected to the brown (or red, or blue-with-sleeve or black-with-sleeve) switched live to the other light.

patthecat

Yes I made the changes to light 2 and it works, just 1/4 power like light #1.

I have also swapped out the dimmer for a regular switch, but no luck - it's still dim. Here is the current setup

imgur.com/b57eb313-1bbd-46f5-b465-6d031ed6227d

PS: thanks for helping

Risteard

To be frank you don't have the competence to be attempting electrical work. Get an Electrician.

xyz123

Are you fitting led lights to dimmer which is not designed to work with led lights?