[saluki]

I just spent two hours trying to hang a simply chandelier in my new house. I need help or I am going to go crazy. Here is the background:

The Chandelier is a simple two wire device. The ceiling fixture where I am trying to hang the new chandelier has wires entering through one conduit and then connecting in the box and exiting through another conduit. The wire colors are Grey, Green, Red, Blue and Orange (the Orange wire is the only one that does not connect to another wire in the adjacent conduit). I will not bore everyone with all of the different color combinations I have tried but I must admit this new ceiling wire configuration has got me beat.

Many thanks.

 

[InPhase277]

Where are you located, country wise? And why did you take the wires apart when you removed the old fixture? You will need a means to test for power at the box. If you have such a means, we can help.

 

[Yoyizit]

The Chandelier is a simple two wire device.
The wire colors are Grey, Green, Red, Blue and Orange (the Orange wire is the only one that does not connect to another wire in the adjacent conduit).

First make sure the chandelier works, by plugging it in or testing it with an ohmmeter.

So one lead of the voltage tester goes on the orange lead and the other goes on each of the 4 other wires while you switch on the power each time until you find the correct wire.

Otherwise, the two leads go to
Grey, Green and try the switch
Grey, Red, and try the switch
Grey, Blue and try the switch

Green, Red, and try the switch
Green, Blue and try the switch

Red, Blue and try the switch

 

[PaliBob]

Where are you located, country wise?.....

In countries that use the IEC code your switch leg is most likely the Grey, Red, or Orange wire while Blue is the neutral. Green is always ground.

The box that has the switch that controls the light most likely has a Brown (Power) wire connected to the switch and a Grey,Red, or Orange wire to the other Terminal. If you have three colored wires (not counting Green) on the switch, then the switch is a 3-way switch which means that the light can be turned on at more than one location.
.

 

[thegonagle]

I noticed some advice that might be way off, so let me counter with this: Don't hook anything up to green and "try the switch," because you might hit a combination that "works," but it would be wrong, and dangerous. (If the lamp/circuit is protected by a GFCI, it would trip because current that is supposed to pass through neutral passes to ground instead, but if it's not GFCI protected, it would most likely appear to work fine.)

 

[220/221]

The orange will likely be your switch leg, providing power to the fixture.

The greys will likely be the neutral, (the other fixture wire).

This is a guess using US 120V colors (white/grey = neutral and the orange is the obvious sw leg) A voltage tester will tell you for sure.

 

[Yoyizit]

I noticed some advice that might be way off, so let me counter with this: Don't hook anything up to green and "try the switch," because you might hit a combination that "works," but it would be wrong, and dangerous. (If the lamp/circuit is protected by a GFCI, it would trip because current that is supposed to pass through neutral passes to ground instead, but if it's not GFCI protected, it would most likely appear to work fine.)

In that case you should run through all the combo's to see what colors apparently work and what colors actually work.
For the GFCI test, you need a load that pulls at least 4mA (in the U.S.). A small incand. lamp will work for this.
This should be interesting.

 

[PaliBob]

......The ceiling fixture where I am trying to hang the new chandelier has wires entering through one conduit and then connecting in the box and exiting through another conduit.

The wire colors are Grey, Green, Red, Blue and Orange (the Orange wire is the only one that does not connect to another wire in the adjacent conduit). ..........

That's it, the Orange wire goes to the Light and Blue is the IEC Neutral. With the added Red & Grey it must be a 3-Way Switch.

Saluki doesn't say if the switch is a dimmer. If it is a dimmer then the switch is probably blown after trying all those combinations that include the Green Ground.

Saluki, Please tell us what is going on? Thanks

 

[220/221]

In countries that use the IEC code your switch leg is most likely the Grey, Red, or Orange wire while Blue is the neutral.

Interesting. What countries use IEC and how long has IEC been around?

Blue neutrals? That's crazy talk :laughing:

 

[PaliBob]

Interesting. What countries use IEC and how long has IEC been around?

Blue neutrals? That's crazy talk :laughing:

The IEC is a non-governmental international standards organization that currently counts 130 countries including the US, Canada, and Mexico. As far as the color code goes Europe seems to be the main user of the blue neutral code. I don't know about Asia, but I have seen any weird colors on power cords from Japan or from HF (er' China)

Anybody seen blue or brown in power cords? (I saw one from France)

The IEC started in 1906 between the IEEE and the British then eventually expanded to 130 countries. The British are now almost totally onboard with the rest of Europe with the brown-blue code.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Electrotechnical_Commission

I remember the colors usiing the analogy of mountains in California. The Brown mountains 'undulate' up and down while the Blue lakes are smooth.

 

[saluki]

grey/orange worked

Many thanks to everyone's reply, member 220/221 got it exactly right, I had to hook up the neutral (grey) and the hot (orange) and it worked the first time. Of all my combos I had left the grey out so that worked perfectly, I honestly made it a lot harder than it had to be, I guess the five wires going every which way in the box made me think it had to be complicated.

Our house is in Florida, built in 2002 and there was no existing ceiling fixture where I installed the chandelier, the switch is a normal two way switch.

Once again many thanks to everyone who replied back. This is a great chat room.

 

[PaliBob]

Many thanks to everyone's reply, member 220/221 got it exactly right, I had to hook up the neutral (grey) and the hot (orange) and it worked the first time. Of all my combos I had left the grey out so that worked perfectly, I honestly made it a lot harder than it had to be, I guess the five wires going every which way in the box made me think it had to be complicated.

Our house is in Florida, built in 2002 and there was no existing ceiling fixture where I installed the chandelier, the switch is a normal two way switch.

Once again many thanks to everyone who replied back. This is a great chat room.

Great, Great, Congratulations. :thumbsup: With the name and no location I was convinced this was an IEC question. We do get off-shore inquiries.

Thanks again for the feedback. We get a surprising number of new members that never get back with any feedback, which leaves us all wondering what happened.