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Lights stay permanently on!!!

2K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  Ultrarunner2017 
#1 ·
I have just replaced 1 light fitting out of 3 in my hallway. There used to be a single light bulb coming down from each fitting. 2 downstairs 1 upstairs. I bought today 2 chrome plated triple ceiling light (3x40w) and 1 chrome plated 5 light. I carefully removed the one existing fitting from downstairs taking care to mark up the cables to avoid confusion. 4 seperate cables came down from the ceiling 3 cables consisting of live, neutral and earth andthe other consisting of 4 wires. I identified the 2 cables that needed to go in the spare part of the chock block. I am almost certain it is wired correctly however when I close the breaker the lights stay permanently on the other lights in the hallway upstairs and downstairs work perfectly still. It was very tight pushing the cables into the ceiling to the new chock block. I am very confused of why I can not use my switch. Please please help me fellow DIYers.
Many thanks Gaz
 
#2 ·
You might have used the wrong wires, or, there may be a short to a live hot. Turn power off and check your connections.

BTW, where are you from? Many people in the UK use the term "earth" for what we call "ground". This is a mainly US forum, but we have some UK based members.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Did you notice cracking or flaking of the insulation on the various wires? This often poses a problem when upgrading light fixtures; unwanted wires crossing each other can happen. I can't think of any simple quick remedy other than wrapping electrical tape around the full length of each protruding wire.

Anyway, did you connect the new fixture up in the same manner the old fixture was, namely new live to the where the old live was connected, etc.? Of the groups of wires tied together with wire nuts, one group is the switch controlled live wires and this is what you want to connect your light fixture to.

>>> earth
Joke: (Customer) This coffee tastes like mud!
(Waiter) Well, it was ground this morning.
 
#4 ·
Hello Gaz

Look at the diagram I posted below

This is very typical of IEC standard light fixtures using the new colors imposed in 2002. Yours may be different if they are old colors...but the connections are the same.

Most likely what you have done is connected the Live ..(brown in the diagram) of the fixture to the wrong block where the constant hots are located (browns). It needs to go to the switched hot block. follow the wires in the diagram and i think you can figure it out.

Check this first then get back to us and we will get it figured out.
 

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