Recently bought a house .Was up in loft putting down insulation when I noticed that what I believe is a 20amp 4 terminal junction box had a twin and earth cable coming out which was about a metre long and sealed off with insulation tape ie not attached to anything.
Down in the kitchen is a 2 gang light switch but while one switch puts on lights above the kitchen cabinets the other appeared to do nothing. It,s practically impossible to trace the cabling from the light switch into the loft but my guess was that a cable from the " spare " light switch ran into the terminal box and therefore swiched power on and off to the spare cable in the loft.
I had wanted to put a couple of downlights in the kitchen ceiling and this spare cable seemed to be the answer to my prayers.
Inside the juction box there are four connection in a straight row which for simplicity I will call 1,2,3,4 . In the top one ie terminal 1 there is a red feed from a two core cable and also in that same connection are two other reds both from three core cable .
In connector 2 there is a black from one of the three core cables which has the red attached to terminal 1 and also in that same no 2 terminal is a red from the spare 3 core cable.
Terminal 3 has nothing connected.
Terminal 4 has three blacks ie one from the " spare cable and one from each of the other two cables ie the 2 core and one of the tree cores with the red plumbed into terminal 1.
Using a mains tester I established that terminal 1 is permanently live.
Terminal 2 only shows as live when I switch on the previously redundant second switch on the light switch down in the kitchen.
Terminal 4 shows not live on the tester.
The earth wires from the two three core cables were both fed into a connection on a connector block outside the box but the earth wire from the spare cable wasn't connected to anything.
I had a 30 amp 3 terminal junction box and some three core ie twin and earth 1.5mm cable .
Having swiched off at the mains and pulled out the fuses I stripped the sealed end of the "spare cable ie the one already wired into the existing junction box and attached the red to the same terminal in the new junction box as a red/brown from each of the three spot lights ( not low voltage) did the same with the blues ie attached them to the second terminal in the new junction box as the black from the existing "spare" cable.
The earh wires were all connected together and fed into the third terminal on the new juction box. Switched on at the previously redundant switch downstairs and the new spots all came on ok. Being extremely cautious I touched the metal support leg attached to each of the lights with the mains tester and found to my horror that the red light on the mains tester came on with each one
Having bought the house I then became redundant as is my wife so we simply can't afford to call in the professionals, Can anyone help by suggesting what is wrong. I presume I should not be getting a red light on the tester when I touch the light supports so I won't be switching the lights on again until I can get some expert help. If I can't get any on here then I will just disconnect the " spare cable from the existing junction box and shut everything up and make do with no downlights.
Wife won't be happy but at least we will be alive .
Can anyone out there help?
Down in the kitchen is a 2 gang light switch but while one switch puts on lights above the kitchen cabinets the other appeared to do nothing. It,s practically impossible to trace the cabling from the light switch into the loft but my guess was that a cable from the " spare " light switch ran into the terminal box and therefore swiched power on and off to the spare cable in the loft.
I had wanted to put a couple of downlights in the kitchen ceiling and this spare cable seemed to be the answer to my prayers.
Inside the juction box there are four connection in a straight row which for simplicity I will call 1,2,3,4 . In the top one ie terminal 1 there is a red feed from a two core cable and also in that same connection are two other reds both from three core cable .
In connector 2 there is a black from one of the three core cables which has the red attached to terminal 1 and also in that same no 2 terminal is a red from the spare 3 core cable.
Terminal 3 has nothing connected.
Terminal 4 has three blacks ie one from the " spare cable and one from each of the other two cables ie the 2 core and one of the tree cores with the red plumbed into terminal 1.
Using a mains tester I established that terminal 1 is permanently live.
Terminal 2 only shows as live when I switch on the previously redundant second switch on the light switch down in the kitchen.
Terminal 4 shows not live on the tester.
The earth wires from the two three core cables were both fed into a connection on a connector block outside the box but the earth wire from the spare cable wasn't connected to anything.
I had a 30 amp 3 terminal junction box and some three core ie twin and earth 1.5mm cable .
Having swiched off at the mains and pulled out the fuses I stripped the sealed end of the "spare cable ie the one already wired into the existing junction box and attached the red to the same terminal in the new junction box as a red/brown from each of the three spot lights ( not low voltage) did the same with the blues ie attached them to the second terminal in the new junction box as the black from the existing "spare" cable.
The earh wires were all connected together and fed into the third terminal on the new juction box. Switched on at the previously redundant switch downstairs and the new spots all came on ok. Being extremely cautious I touched the metal support leg attached to each of the lights with the mains tester and found to my horror that the red light on the mains tester came on with each one
Having bought the house I then became redundant as is my wife so we simply can't afford to call in the professionals, Can anyone help by suggesting what is wrong. I presume I should not be getting a red light on the tester when I touch the light supports so I won't be switching the lights on again until I can get some expert help. If I can't get any on here then I will just disconnect the " spare cable from the existing junction box and shut everything up and make do with no downlights.
Wife won't be happy but at least we will be alive .
Can anyone out there help?
