Bedroom light help

DanVanDyke · Post by **DanVanDyke** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 4:52 pm

Hi!

First post, hope someone can help. Apologies in advance if any of the jargo I use is confusing!I am decorating my son's bedroom in a new house (the house is old though) and took down the ceiling rose to replace with a light fitting from Ikea.

From the ceiling came two neutral which were connected to the neutral fittings in the ceiling rose.

One live wire which connected a live fitting.

Three earth which were tied together and connected to the earth

Three red wires which went into the 'loop in' of the light fitting.

The Ikea light only had two neutral and two live connectors, so I connected them and capped off the three red wires and the earth. No light and no lights on on the landing which is adjacent to the bedroom.

I then tried to reconnect the old ceiling rose following the exact wiring it had previously had, and gain had no joy. The Ikea light is a pain in the rear end to fit, but that is my preference to reconnect.

Sorry no pictures, no email on yet as have just moved in, so typing this at work.

Thanks, Dan

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:01 pm

Hi Dan,

it seems like a problem with the three red wires as these are the permanent lives and so I would check these out!

These need terminating into a terminal connector together and then the other live, which is the switched live goes into the Live on the light fitting and the two neutrals into the Neutral block and all earths in the earth block.

You can see a step by step guide here-

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/diy/e ... itting.htm

DanVanDyke · Post by **DanVanDyke** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:26 pm

Thanks for that. Think I may have worked it out, so one last question.

That is kind of what I have done, put the three loop wires into a connector (however, I put them into three separate connectors, well you know put them into a 3 piece connector), there is no earth in the light fitting so I put the three earth also into individual connectors.

So am I right in thinking that the reason I can't get the light to work is because I'm not putting the loops into the same connector?

Also, is it a bid dodgy not to have everything earthed?

many thanks!

sparkydude · Post by **sparkydude** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:32 pm

Exactly as UHM says you may have thought that the three terminals in the middle of your old ceiling rose were not connected together but they are. You need to putt all the reds in one connector block together, all the wearths in another connector block together and then this will leave you with the live and neutral you need for your fitting and normality should be restored to your lighting.

Nick

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:32 pm

Ha, good!

That is why it is not working and this is why the other lights don't work.

When you put all three together the lights will work as they should

If there is no earth terminal on the light fitting then it is probably double insulated and does not need one.

Some need an earth and some don't, but you should double check with the instructions to be on the safe side.

The three earth wires all need terminating into one terminal block as well, splitting them up means that there will be no earth continuity in the lighting circuit, which could be dangerous!

DanVanDyke · Post by **DanVanDyke** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:41 pm

Cheers guys!

Will try when I get home. If I save the missus money on calling out an electrician, I'll definitely be able to go to Wembley on Wednesday night!

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:52 pm

Nice one, just make sure you switch off the electrics first before fixing it

Hope you have a great time at Wembly!

skiking · Post by **skiking** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 6:19 pm

ultimatehandyman wrote:

Nice one, just make sure you switch off the electrics first before fixing it

Hope you have a great time at Wembly!

Its England v Switzerland, its a big hope to have a good time watching England. A new broom and still the same old faces on the pitch - lets just hope they play as a team instead of ego's.

(Sorry, hijacked your post for a rant

)