Can anyone just confirm how I need to wire this light up please? The wires are slightly older looking, so I've got one red, black and green/yellow on the ceiling, and the light fitting is marked E, N, L and LOOP. The light fitting on the ceiling is missing so I can't see how it was wired up before we moved in. I've a voltage detector telling me it's live when the switch is on.The light is the only light that operates from the switch, but there;s a top and a bottom hallway switch.
I assume it's just Red wire - L, and black wire - N, obv green to earth.
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yes and clearly you are well qualified to do this 😉
Make sure the elcy is off by which i mean unplug the fuse/circuit breaker from the main supply
Red to brown, black to blue and land the green/yellow on the brass terminal
Red to brown, black to blue and land the green/yellow on the brass terminal
Yep this
Trusting wire insulation colours is a really bad idea. That's how it [i]should [/i]be but who knows.
Trusting wire insulation colours is a really bad idea. That's how it should be but who knows.
OK. What do you do then? Not a challenge - I'm interested. I do lots of little electrical jobs around the house, and if you can't rely on the colours, what do you do to find out which is E, N & L?
Go on cougar. What happens if he gets live and neutral back to front then ?
It gets darker when you turn the light on.
Never mind the leccy, just wtf is going on with your ceiling? 😯
😉
Go on cougar. What happens if he gets live and neutral back to front then ?
I neither know nor care. Point stands. Colour is no indication of what wires are. Who knows what lunatic wired it up in the first place.
Indeed.
If you get it wrong the light won't work so no need to worry. The important thing is switch the power off at the consumer unit before doing the job.
I notice the flex is 2 core, this is only good for insulated fittings e.g. white plastic pendant fitting. No good for a metal light fitting as you need to earth that.
I notice the flex is 2 core, this is only good for insulated fittings e.g. white plastic pendant fitting. No good for a metal light fitting as you need to earth that.
There is brass earth point (or whatever it's called) on the metal light fitting though... Wire it to the earth wire coming out of the ceiling?
Cheers, all sounds good, and I'll be switching off the power before doing it. I'm not calling an electrician for every stupid little job like this.
The ceiling is in the process of having 7 layers of wallpaper stripped from it. It's the stairway in the new house and the stairs and upstairs room are still not operational!
Yellow/Green is the earth. This, as previously stated, goes to the brass terminal.
Red should be switched live and goes to the brown. Black is neutral and goes to the blue.
No, you can't trust the colours but if you get them round the wrong way it doesn't matter unless it's an Edison screw fitting in which case the centre pin should always be the live.
You can test with a multimeter set to 250v AC. You will get a reading of 240V between red and black and red and yellow/green. No voltage should be present between black and yellow/green. (maybe a few volts but not many). If there is 240v between black and earth and nothing between red and earth then the polarity is reversed.
Ensure the switch is off and preferably pull the fuse/trip the mcb first.
Good for you doing it yourself and being willing to ask. If you're in any doubt hit the mains switch off first.
Any questions just ask.
Rich (electricsafewales).
I can't help except to say that its also live when the switch is off-
don't ask me how I know.
There is no loop wiring in the rose so it shouldn't be live unless the switch is off. However, that's not to say it won't be live due to error/stupidity on someones part. If you have no way of testing it then power down everything to be on the safe side.
Job done, no gerbils died. Thanks for the confirmation chaps 🙂