new 2 electricity......

MRTOWNDRO · 12-11-2008, 09:58 PM

Hello alll I know by law in the UK you gotta have a qualified electrician for minor works but to be honest I cant afford 1. I am not 'dumb' and do know about safety and all I want to do is change a light in my front room however I have run into a lil bump.

the wires hangin from my ceiling are.....

currently theres 3 power cables with 3 sets of the following hanging out all together in groups of the following,

Red wire
Black wire
Earth wire.

now i know that is old wiring as nowdays its blue brown.......

the light id like to fit has 2 terminals on the back being live and neutral and a earth.

i need help on knowing how to connect it up. I do have a switch in the room and behind the switch the only wire screwed into it is the red wire.
when i seperate the black wires none of the lights on that floor work.

can someone hlp please!!!!!!!!!!!1 thank you.

InPhase277 · 12-11-2008, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRTOWNDRO

Hello alll I know by law in the UK you gotta have a qualified electrician for minor works but to be honest I cant afford 1. I am not 'dumb' and do know about safety and all I want to do is change a light in my front room however I have run into a lil bump.

the wires hangin from my ceiling are.....

currently theres 3 power cables with 3 sets of the following hanging out all together in groups of the following,

Red wire
Black wire
Earth wire.

now i know that is old wiring as nowdays its blue brown.......

the light id like to fit has 2 terminals on the back being live and neutral and a earth.

i need help on knowing how to connect it up. I do have a switch in the room and behind the switch the only wire screwed into it is the red wire.
when i seperate the black wires none of the lights on that floor work.

can someone hlp please!!!!!!!!!!!1 thank you.

The first question is: why did you separate all of the wires? You should have only removed the wires that were attached to the fixture. What it sounds like is you have one cable bringing power in, one taking it elsewhere and one cable that goes to the switch.

You need to get a continuity tester that can tell you which cable goes to the switch before going further.

MRTOWNDRO · 12-12-2008, 06:39 AM

Hi thanks for the reply,

i had to take the wires out as the connection was a plastic connector box but to it looked very badly done and all over the place so i wanted to clean up the wiring. O dear i dont own a tester um is there anyother ways you can help me? the switch behind it the wires are blakc and red but the only one connected to it is red.

rgsgww · 12-14-2008, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRTOWNDRO

Hi thanks for the reply,

i had to take the wires out as the connection was a plastic connector box but to it looked very badly done and all over the place so i wanted to clean up the wiring. O dear i dont own a tester um is there anyother ways you can help me? the switch behind it the wires are blakc and red but the only one connected to it is red.

Red is connected to the switch? That should be the hot. Can you take a pic of both boxes?

KE2KB · 12-14-2008, 08:53 AM

You've only got one wire connected to the switch? Obviously one of the wires came off when you pulled the switch out, or it would not have been working before.

A continuity tester is not expensive.