Front door light replacement wiring advice required

solorize · Post by **solorize** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:24 pm

Hi,

I have a new front door light that I was hoping to swap over with the old existing light.

But once I started to take off the old light I noticed that the wiring was a bit more
complex than I was expecting. I was hoping for just a Live, Neutral and an earth,
but was greeted with a lot more wires.

OLD LIGHT
The old light has a set of wires (at the bottom), coming from an integrated sensor
on the front, as well as another set higher up, going to the bulb. Which attach into
the connector block going back into the wall.

: old fitting.png (597.49 KiB) Viewed 1296 times

View behind the connection block

: old fitting rear of connection block.png (594.79 KiB) Viewed 1296 times

EXISTING CONNECTION BLOCK WIRING
From looking at the existing wiring it looks like the wires from the
wall into the connection block are as indicated below.

: connector block.png (7.92 KiB) Viewed 1296 times

I am assuming the following, please correct me if I am wrong;

1. YELLOW/GREEN = Earth
2. RED = Permanent live
3. BLACK wire = Neutral
4. Black with RED tape = Switched Live ?

NEW LIGHT
The new light fitting just has, a live, Earth & Neutral wire terminating in it's own
connector block.

: new fitting.png (615.95 KiB) Viewed 1296 times

Hopefully with the above information someone can explain how I should wire in
the new light fitting into the existing connections.

I would assume that it would be easier to connect, if I disconnect the new 3 way connector
block (supplied with the new light), and just wire connect the wires straight into the old
4 way connector block?

Kind regards
Mark

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 8:10 pm

Good luck.

As is often the case with new light fittings there is just not enough room for all the cables.

I would suggest you buy a weatherproof box*, put all the existing cables in that, and run a short cable from that to you new light. Your assumption regarding what the wires are looks good to me.

* Doesn't have to be a junction box, just a weatherproof box you can make connections in

solorize · Post by **solorize** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 10:27 pm

Hi Someone-Else,

Thanks for you reply.

I was thinking that I may just get rid of the 4 way connector, and use the new 3 way connector
along with A 'Wago connector block' (connecting the permanent lives together), so that I can
position that out of the way and hopefully have enough room.

Proposed wiring into new light fitting.

: proposed wiring.png (604.6 KiB) Viewed 1271 times

Can you confirm if what I have shown above is correct?

If I cant get enough room for all the cables then I will do as you suggest and get a weatherproof
box and run a new cable to the light.

Regards
Mark

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 11:50 pm

Doubt it will fit, and you dont have a big enough cable entry by the looks of it.

Get a weatherproof box (small one) you know you want to do it right.

Cannyfixit · Post by **Cannyfixit** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:01 am

make a diagram and mark the cables before you dismantle it
You’ll thank me later

solorize · Post by **solorize** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:03 pm

Ok quick update...

I managed to fit all the wires in through the cable entry hole and
got them positioned OK so I could hook them all up.

: installed wiring.png (504.85 KiB) Viewed 1253 times

The hardest bit was drilling the holes in the wall LOL, flipping drill bit
kept wandering, so the back place was not level

. Luckily I could rotate
the front plate so I could get the light fitting vertical.

Just got to test the motion sensor this evening to get the right distance.
I did a quick test by covering the motion sensor so it was dark and the
light came on, and adjusted the timed off to be about 5 mins.
So at least everything is wired up ok now.