HELP fitting a bathroom ceiling light!

[Shaun]

Hi guys OK I'm new to electrics - never felt too sure about them. Anyway we need to replace the light on the bathroom celing. I bought one in Homebase and got it home only to find out the instructions are wrong! They refer to a diagram which shows which terminal is positive and which negative. Of course, the lamp holder that comes with the light has a different layout to the one in the picture so its impossible to tell which is which! (Why oh why isnt there a + and a - on there somewhere???!)

I'm sure its really obvious to most people which is + and which - but I really am unsure and want to get some advice before proceeding with my first install! I am presuming the +ve is the one, when viewed from the inside, which has the sort of "springy" brass connector, is this right?

I have attached pics of everything to the following addresses:

Manual diagram:

light fitting (from inside and also from the rear as per diagram for comparison) good advise would be appreciated - its very dark in our bathroom at the moment!

Shaun

[Grunff]

Because it's AC - there is no + or - (or rather, they swap round 50 times a second, so it doesn't matter).

The live should be connected to the base terminal, and the neutral to the side terminal. But to be perfectly honest, it really doesn't matter

- it's become very common for people not to pay any attention when fitting edison screw (ugh) fittings.

[Shaun]

Thanks for this great help! One question: when you say "side" and "base" terminals - can you clarify this a little?

Thanks Shaun

[Christian McArdle]

Basically, in an ES fitting, there is a small point contact, which should be live, and a large screw contact, which should be neutral. This is because it is very easy to touch the large screw contact, so you don't want that one to be the live one. If you get them the wrong way round, it is dangerous and an obvious failure upon inspection.

Christian.

[Shaun]

Hmm OK - this seems to go against what I was told by the previous poster so I'm kinda back to square one! From the pictures I posted can you clarify which is which before I burn the house down?

Thanks! Shaun

[Sparks]

The brown or red wire should connect to the tip of the screw in bulb, and the blue or black wire should connect to the thread of the bulb - the earth should connect to the casing of the fitting.

L is Live (Brown or Red wire) N is Neutral (Blue or Black wire) E is earth (Green, Green/Yellow or bare wire (You should use some green/yellow sleeving if it is bare))

L N and E *should* be marked on the light fitting!

Sparks...

[Lurch]

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 15:57:16 +0100, Grunff strung together this:

Bad Grunff, very dangerous advice. Don't under any circumstances get them the wrong way round. If you do the 'live bit' will be the bit that is easily touchable from outside the lampholder.

[Lurch]

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 20:04:31 +0100, Shaun strung together this:

In this case the thread is plastic so if you do get them the wrong way round it's no biggie. It is good practice to get them the right way round as some fitttings have an exposed metal thread. You want to connect the live to the terminal that is connected to the centre pin of the fitting.

[Grunff]

Weeeel, I did describe the correct way round, be fair.

But in ES fittings where the thread is plastic (like this one), and contact with the bulb's threaded part is made at the bottom of the fitting via a side spring, it's actually very difficult (impossible on many fittings) to touch the bulb's threaded part while it's in contact with the terminal - so it doesn't make a great deal of difference.

I personally think ES are evil and should be banned anyway.