Help - Bathroom light linked to extractor fan

[LizH]

I had a brainwave, thinking it would be easy to change the light fitting in our bathroom......How wrong can you be.

Now I have taken the old one down, can not fix the new one or remember how to put back the old one

The old one was/is linked to an extractor fan. I now have 4 black wires and 1 blue wire and not sure what to do with them....I really don't want to have to call out an electrician over the bank holiday. What is the best short term solution to make the bathroom safe (even if dark!)

 

[plugwash]

if those are the onlu 5 wires just stick them in the terminals of a 6 terminal junction box to make them safe

if those are the only wires your lighting seems rather dodgy and needs to be checked by an electrician

 

[securespark]

plug

Don't understand what you're saying.

It is possible that the other cores have been tucked up in the loft - ie live loop and earth have been terminated and pushed into loft, and only switched live and neutral remain in the room.

The blacks could comprise neutrals and a switched live that is unmarked, and the blue could be the neutral feed to the fan.
The switched feed for fan could be tapped off elsewhere.

To id the switch wire, you need access to all the conductors that meet at the light fitting. You need to power down, seperate all conductors and sort them into their respective groups, attach connectors onto the end of each conductor then with a multimeter you can id each cable. (DON'T FORGET TO MARK EACH CABLE WITH A PIECE OF COLOURED TAPE OR SIMILAR AND MAKE A NOTE OF HOW THE REMAINING CONDUCTORS ARE CONNECTED AT PRESENT) The switch wire is the one which when you connect a MM set to continuity across the switchwires, it will beep with the switch "on" and stop with the switch "off".

If you are not confident using a MM, you should not be touching your electrical installation. As plug says, get a spark in!!