On Mon, 05 Jul 2004 21:31:19 GMT, "Matthew Durkin" strung together this:
It looks like the three black wires would be the neutral with the red being the switch wire, the permanent feed most likely goes to the switch first. It might be wise to check this first with a multimeter before connecting. Are there any other lights in the room? I would say the three black wires are most probably a neutral in and two out, one to the rest of the lighting circuit and the other to wall lights at a guess.
Hi Alan, OK doesn't look particularly standard, but you'll have a mains feed in - BLACK (neutral), RED (live) and Earth - the bare wire withe the green and yellow sheath. The other 2 black wires (why they are both black I don't know - one should be red) aer to your switch. It also seems like the switch is being use to switch neutral, rather than live. Anyway, the two black joined together will be you neutral in from the feed wires, and a wire to the switch. The other black will be the return from the switch. So it looks like you should connect the black, and red on the right to your light fitting, and the earth to an earth connector on the fitting (if there is one). This means that you are actually switching neutral which is non-standard but would work though you would always have a live feed to the light socket which isn't desirable.
Ideally you should test all this out with a multimeter / circuit tester - cheap ones are only about £10 - and it's better than blowing something up. If you get one, turn off mains power and test resistance between the 3 black wires with the switch on and off. you should be able to identify the switch pair pretty easy. It is normal to then connect your live feed wire (red) to one of the switch wires with a terminal block, and use the other switch wire as the return live that is connected to the lamp along with the remaining neutral (black) that you identified as not being a switch wire. You should also attach a tag of red electrical tape to the black switch wires to show that they are carrying live.
Hope this information helps.
Thanks for the help. I don't really know what you mean with the explanation, so I think I'll just ask an electrician to pop round and do it. Any idea on how much it will cost? Cheers.
There is the kitchen light that now won't work.
explanation,
not sure how much it would cost - should be a 15-30 minute job. You might want to get him/her to have a quick look over your electrics in general - I know people who have had electricians discover pretty dangerous wiring left over by previous DIY bodges or bad electricians. You may find an electrician unwilling to pop round for a 15 minute job like this anyway. I do all my own wiring, but am an electrical and electronic engineer (and follow the wiring regs!). Now when it comes to plumbing... ugh! If you do a fair bit of DIY the Collins Comlpete DIY manual is great. It covers loads of stuff and has pictures of a lot of things.
I second the testing with a multimeter first!
Thanks for the help guys. I'll get an electrician to come and sort it out. Not worth the risk just to save a few quid. Alan.
On Mon, 05 Jul 2004 21:48:01 GMT, "Alan" strung together this:
Is that without the third black connected? If so then that will probably be the neutral for the kitchen light. The only safe way to find out is to use a multimeter. As with regards to cost, (mentioned later in the thread), depends where you are. Most probably between £20 and £50.
Around here (Caerphilly/Cardiff), anything between £30 and £90 I'd say, depending on size of company and call-out rates. That's if it is an easy diagnose-and-fix. If there is indeed something else dodgy with your wiring then you could be looking at substantially more if you want to get it sorted.
For example, while wiring in "singles" isn't against the regulations, those singles *should* be double-insulated (i.e. with a grey outer sheath a bit like the red wire) and should probably also have their own CPC (bare copper) too.
As for a guess at the wiring system, both competing theories are possible, and IME you shouldn't think that one is more likely than the other without thoroughly checking first. If you feel like it, taking the switch plate off (with power off) might throw some light (ha ha) on the matter.
If these wires are now dangling and you have the power back on, then it is likely that at least some of them will be "live" (in the sense that both "live" (phase) and "neutral" are "live" wires) so until the thing is sorted it is probably best to have them all chocky-blocked up just in case you have a tall and curious visitor =:-)
Hwyl!
M.
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