Board logo

Electrician advice needed
dannyboy147 - 19/11/12 at 11:19 AM

Good morning

At the weekend i replaced an old light fitting with a new one at home. On the wiring diagram that came with the fitting I had to connect the following-

Black (N) to Neutral terminal block on light fitting
Black (N) to Switch block on light fitting
Then Live cable with 3 inner cores. 1 going to live on terminal block/one going to switch on terminal block and the other going to earth.

The problem i have is the live cable (red) only has 2 inner cores and one of them is completely stripped (earth). When i had live going to live on the terminal block and the earth going to earth only half the lights in my flat worked. when i put the earth into the switch block all the lights in the flat then worked fine.

Could this be that the earth is actually not earth and someone has just wired it up wrong in the first place? By doing this have i created a fire hazard at home? I tried swapping the neutral cables over but this made no difference.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Hope my description isnt too poor!!

cheers
DANNY


RoadkillUK - 19/11/12 at 11:28 AM

Hello Danny, you are aware that although named 'Locostbuilders' this site is about Homebuilt and Kit-Cars?

That being said, I'm sure someone will be along to help soon Is it possible to provide photo's of said firetrap?


mookaloid - 19/11/12 at 12:37 PM

Maybe Locostbuilders is getting a worldwide reputation for being the centre of all the useful knowledge there is - on any subject.

Hence he is asking here first because he knows that this is where the best answers are to be found

It's my first port of call anyway!


steve m - 19/11/12 at 01:43 PM

Not as a first post though,


Nick DV - 19/11/12 at 01:53 PM

That is why he posted in the section labelled 'Non-car chat'! The last time I loooked, a home light fitting was nothing to do with a car, locost or otherwise!

Cheers, Nick


mookaloid - 19/11/12 at 02:20 PM

quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Not as a first post though,


True - as forum etiquette goes it does fall a little below expectations


JoelP - 19/11/12 at 02:35 PM

That sounds grim, and id really suggest getting a professional in to look at it. The stripped cable should be the earth and it should be sleeved in green and yellow.

First suggestion is to take off the light switch and see what cables are there. Id guess that, at the ceiling rose, both the black ones are neutral, and hence if they are not joined then any later lights wont work. That would make the red one the switched live, and seemingly no perminant live there, which is a bit unusual - it would have to have a perminant live feed at the switch in that case. You need a proper voltage detector really, to work out what is switched and what is perminant. Also remember that the neutral conductor will be at 240 volts if you take it out whilst other lights further down the circuit are on.


JoelP - 19/11/12 at 02:36 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Not as a first post though,


True - as forum etiquette goes it does fall a little below expectations


Id quite agree, but at least its a well presented question.


dannyboy147 - 19/11/12 at 02:52 PM

Hi Joel

Thank you for the reply.

much appreciated
Danny


mookaloid - 19/11/12 at 03:04 PM

quote:
Originally posted by dannyboy147
Hi Joel

Thank you for the reply.

much appreciated
Danny


But at least he is polite and says thank you


Macbeast - 19/11/12 at 03:05 PM

It is in non-car chat. What's the problem ?


mookaloid - 19/11/12 at 03:21 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Macbeast
It is in non-car chat. What's the problem ?


I don't think there is one


adithorp - 19/11/12 at 04:03 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
quote:
Originally posted by Macbeast
It is in non-car chat. What's the problem ?


I don't think there is one


If there isn't a problem... then why don't his lights work.