Help Wanted Please

[wheat1]

Hello

I know next to nothing about electrics and I had a problem with the dining room light recently. It is a chandelier design light (with 3 bulbs in), and when my dad turned the light on the other day, either the light itself or the switch (not really sure) sparked and blew. I instantly thought that it was going to be the trip switch or that the bulbs had blown. The trip switch in the garage was down so we turned it back on and the light did not work. We had spare bulbs in so we tried them in the light however that did not work either. The other lights that were on the same trip switch had gone off along too, and when we flicked it back on, the other lights came back on no problem.

Anyway, the spare bulbs that we have are brand new so I went to homebase the next day and found the very same light there so I bought it and thought I would fit it when I got home (even though I know hardly anything about electrics ) I read the instructions and then turned all the electrics off and proceeded to take down the old chandelier and disconnected the wires from the terminal block. However, when I connected the new chandelier onto the terminal block, it does not work at all. The wires are all going to the correct place (and are touching the screw inside the terminal), the bulbs are brand new, so I am very puzzled as to why it just is not working.

With my dad not knowing if it was the light itself or the switch that had sparked (not even sure if this is possible?) I unscrewed the light switch (it is a dimmer switch) but then again I have no idea what I am looking for, so I took a few pictures for reference.

One thing that is puzzling me is the little tab that is next to the wires in the ceiling that is labelled with the earth symbol. I am not sure if this tab needs to be connected to the earth part of the terminal? There is also something that looks very similar on the inside of the casing of the chandelier. I am very unsure what either of these do.

If anybody has any ideas as to what could be the problem any feedback would be very much appreciated and if anybody knows what that little earth tab next to the wires in the ceiling does I would love to know!

Thank you

 

[deadshort]

Hi,your dimmer switch has blown. Try replacing it with a switch. If you replace the dimmer with one which has a metal plate please remember to earth the plate using the terminal provided.

Regards,

DS

 

[securespark]

Looks like your new fitting is class 1, i e it needs an Earth connection if you can fit a wire onto the tags and solder it in place that would be ideal if not then you may be able to use a screw terminal to attach to these tags with a wire linking to the earth terminal.

 

[SimonH2]

Yes, there should be an earth. There's a tab under the nut on the top of the tube (where the wire comes up in IMG_4250) that must be connected to the earth wire. The one on the mounting bracket is optional as the bracket itself won't be accessible when the fitting is in place - though I'd be earthing it myself. I'm assuming those earth tabs are intended to put a "chock block" terminal onto.