Light wiring

ormus

zfrl wrote: »

There is no 1 answer as it will depend how it was wired in the first place! You will need an electrician who can sort out what needs to be connected to what! This is why electricians need their training - not to wire a house but to be able to sort out someone else's wiring! My OH (who is a sparky) constantly comes across this sort of problem. Good luck.

considering 99% of domestic wiring is installed by electricians, hes probably fixing a pros work then.:eek:

flang

Unfortantly there is no easy way to tell which cables are which without testing each one.
I would seriously suggest you find an electrician as trying each wire is not an option!

zfrl

ormus wrote: »

considering 99% of domestic wiring is installed by electricians, hes probably fixing a pros work then.:eek:

Yes! But there is no legal limit as to who can do most of the electrics (the new exclusions only apply to certain aspects) so anyone can set up as a "professional". But even the legit qualified ones all do it differently. Also into the mix is that older houses have had add on after add on! Then mix that with the DIYers who "know what they are doing" & you get all sorts of problems.

lornamay

Well, I am going to give it another go tonight so if anyone has any helpful advise I would be really grateful -i am sure that there must be an easy way to find out which wire is live without killing myself!

ormus

there is. but peeps are very loathe to give out dangerous sparky advice as to the methods (esp to a newbie diyer). there could be legal implications if it goes very very pear shaped!

lornamay

yeah I understand.

its just that i seem to have tried all the combinations and non of them seem to make the switch work. i must have missed one.

lornamay

Well, I am off to try out some of the things you have suggested in about 1/2 an hour so unless I get some more advise before then thanks everyone for your help and i iwll let you know how it goes.

flang

I do hope Lornamay comes back!!!!!

zfrl

lornamay wrote: »

I have 3 wires coming out of the ceiling. Each has a green/yellow wire and a black wire. I have 5 red wires.

The light fitting has a block with 2 rows of 4 holes to put the wires in.

OH back from work & is asking:

Are you sure there are 3 cables (not wires)?

What you explained there should be 4 cables, 3 with red, black & earth (green/yellow) and 1 with 2 red & 1 earth.

Do you want to check if this is the case & we might be able to help more later.

flang

I think lorna has 2 loop feeds, 1 switch wire, and one spur to the next light. ( Assuming the next light is in an extention or somthing)
12 cables in all then.