Hey Guys,
Having a slight electrical issue and im hoping someone here can help me. I live in a house that was built around 1970. The light in my kitchen is one of those long flourescent lights and is original to the house. It stopped working a few weeks back so I decided I'd swap it for something more modern. I picked up a new light from my local DIY store and seeing that the connections on it are your standard blue,brown,green/yellow plug style connections I thought I'd put it up myself.
I removed the original light expecting wires that would match up with the connections on my new light but instead I found 2 red wires and a black wire. I also noticed that when the light was removed the light in the adjoining room no longer turned on. I googled this and it was suggested that the black wire is the live wire for the kitchen light and the red wires are the neutral for the kitchen light and the light for the adjoining room. Following that I stuck the black wire into the live terminal on the light and both red wires into the neutral terminal.
I turned back on the power and tried the new kitchen light, worked perfectly. I then tried the light in the adjoining room but it didnt work, however when I turn off the kitchen light it works perfectly.
Has anyone any suggestions of where I messed up and how to fix this? If it helps but lights are turned on from a dual gang light switch like this http://www.qvsdirect.com/images/D/screwless_2_gang_light_switch_white_large.jpg. I havent changed any of the wiring on the switches. Each switch has a black wire coming from it which is going into the wall and the switch for the kitchen has a red wire that is connected to the swich for the adjoining room in the same terminal as a second red wire which is going into the wall.
Having a slight electrical issue and im hoping someone here can help me. I live in a house that was built around 1970. The light in my kitchen is one of those long flourescent lights and is original to the house. It stopped working a few weeks back so I decided I'd swap it for something more modern. I picked up a new light from my local DIY store and seeing that the connections on it are your standard blue,brown,green/yellow plug style connections I thought I'd put it up myself.
I removed the original light expecting wires that would match up with the connections on my new light but instead I found 2 red wires and a black wire. I also noticed that when the light was removed the light in the adjoining room no longer turned on. I googled this and it was suggested that the black wire is the live wire for the kitchen light and the red wires are the neutral for the kitchen light and the light for the adjoining room. Following that I stuck the black wire into the live terminal on the light and both red wires into the neutral terminal.
I turned back on the power and tried the new kitchen light, worked perfectly. I then tried the light in the adjoining room but it didnt work, however when I turn off the kitchen light it works perfectly.
Has anyone any suggestions of where I messed up and how to fix this? If it helps but lights are turned on from a dual gang light switch like this http://www.qvsdirect.com/images/D/screwless_2_gang_light_switch_white_large.jpg. I havent changed any of the wiring on the switches. Each switch has a black wire coming from it which is going into the wall and the switch for the kitchen has a red wire that is connected to the swich for the adjoining room in the same terminal as a second red wire which is going into the wall.