Wiring help!

FlaatusGoat

Grenage said:

Well you were blindly changing wires without knowing what they were.  It's such acts that get people shocked.

What suggests I wasn't taking any electric precautions though? Still don't get how I could've electrocuted myself

Risteard

FlaatusGoat said:

No electrician needed.

Fixed it. Swapped the black wire for the grey wire. That's all there was to it. So much for money saving here, more like call for a tradie and spend lots of money...

On the contrary, it was just having observed that clearly you have absolutely no idea how to carry out electrical work, let alone safely.

FlaatusGoat

Risteard said:

FlaatusGoat said:

No electrician needed.

Fixed it. Swapped the black wire for the grey wire. That's all there was to it. So much for money saving here, more like call for a tradie and spend lots of money...

On the contrary, it was just having observed that clearly you have absolutely no idea how to carry out electrical work, let alone safely.

Explain what you've observed seemingly so clearly and how you've reached such unambiguous conclusions

FlaatusGoat

Grenage said:

Well you were blindly changing wires without knowing what they were.  It's such acts that get people shocked.

Why would I get shocked though, whether I know the wires or not? How do you know I didn't turn off the fuse box or hit the isolation switch first, why so many assumptions?

Section62

FlaatusGoat said:

Grenage said:

Well you were blindly changing wires without knowing what they were.  It's such acts that get people shocked.

Why would I get shocked though, whether I know the wires or not? How do you know I didn't turn off the fuse box or hit the isolation switch first, why so many assumptions?

At some point you turned the power back on though? 

There's two issues involved - firstly isolating the power while you work on the installation, secondly that the alterations you make leave the installation in a safe state for when the power is turned back on.  Your question in bold above implies the second issue wasn't something you were thinking about.

If you don't know what each conductor in a cable is doing, but randomly connect the conductors on a hit-and-hope basis, then you risk something becoming energised which wasn't intended to be energised.  Then when you turn the power back on and touch something, game over.

Electrical work shouldn't be on the basis of guesswork.  To do it safely requires a methodical approach, and one of the first steps is to fully understand how the installation works.  Note that isolating the supply isn't necessarily step one - sometimes the power has to be on in order to work out what is going on. And for that reason it makes sense for people who don't know what they are doing to employ an electrician with the right skills to do the diagnosis whilst following a safe method of working.