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Hi Guys,

I am trying to put up Halogen lights and i am a bit confused about what to do. The pictures attached show the current lights and the other shows the new light fitting.

The new fitting needs to be attached to the ceiling, does this mean i need to remove the current one as the new one won't fit over the old one. If so how do i do that?

Also how should this be wired up to the new fitting as i can only see a Live Earth and Neutral.

Thanks

This is explained here-

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

Cheers for that, it looks pretty straight forward. I will have a go.

I too have a halogen light to fit. The old light fitting was the loop in kind shown in the guide above.

The solution I was going to use was to fit a junction box in the ceiling and then run the live and neutral to the light fitting (there seems to be no connection for an earth) - it is a zone 2 if that makes any difference.

Is this incorrect and will it have any dangerous consequences?

As ever, thanks for the advice.

Hi Fraser,

The general rule with junction boxes is that they have to be accessable and so if you use one for an upstairs light and you can access the ceiling from the loft then you can access the junction box. If you use one on a downstairs room and you have to lift the floorboards from above then it is not accessable and so could be against the regs.

Using a junction box will not have any dangerous consequences, but it might just not always comply with the regulations, but there are probably thousands of junction boxes that are not accessable!

If you use a higher ampage junction box there is more room for the wires.

Your light fitting is probably double insulated and does not require an earth to be connected. Don't cut the wire off though, just cover it up with some green and yellow insulation tape as it will probably be needed if you change the fitting at a later date.

Thanks, I can get clear access from the loft space so I'll stick with the junction box method.

Fraser wrote:Thanks, I can get clear access from the loft space so I'll stick with the junction box method.

You are welcome.

I prefer the junction box method as it makes it much easier if you get a light fitting that is difficult to fit.

Just finished fitting the new light, I thought I'd post a couple of pics (I should've taken one of the inside of the junction box but I had screwed it on).

I already had bought the smaller JB but I will buy higher amp ones in future because it was pretty awkward!

While I was in the roof space I noticed some white spots (mould-ish) on the joists but I've posted a query about this in the joinery forum so won't go on about it here.