Installing new light fitting?

[Benty666]

Hey room,

I'm not the most confident person in the world when it comes to DIY but I think with your help that I can do this.

I want to replace my existing single light in my living room with a new light fitting but I have a couple of issues I'd like to mention before I go ahead.
I can seem to remove the existing fitting from the celing, there are no screws, I've tried turning it (it doesn't turn) and pulling it gently. I assume you know what I'm talking about, oval shaped looking thing.

I removed the bulb and only noticed 2 wires, blue and brown. I couldn't see the earth wire, how would I go about installing one? Do I actually need one?

I know it's not a lot to go on but if you require any information please let me know and I'll try and be a little clearer.

Thanks

Chris

 

[Click-Sure]

Any chance you can post a picture from a digital camera or phone?

Sounds like a ceiling rose, but not too sure about oval.

You are probably replacing the fitting with a metal one? In which case you need it earth it! (there are some double insulated designs out there, but thats another story.)

 

[Benty666]

Before I post pic, just to let you know the new light fitting I wish to install has an earth wire inside it, just not the old one. Does that make a difference

 

[Benty666]

Untitled

• Benty666
• 14 Jun 2008
• 1

 

[Click-Sure]

Smoker in the house?

That is a normal ceiling rose and will un-do by turning it anti-clockwise, they can get stiff and sometimes brittle so you may have to resort to some 'precussive maintainence' may be required.

You'll find a load of wires inside the rose, hopefully including an earth, you have problems if you haven't got one!

 

[Benty666]

No smokers in the house anymore.

We've lived here for about 6 weeks now but had to repaint a lot of the walls and paper as they were smoke stained

 

[Benty666]

Ok after wrestling with the rose for 30 mins I've managed to remove the cover. I have 9 wires underneath. Green/yellow, blue, brown, 2 black and 4 red (I'm sure you knew that already).
Now you probably already know that on my new light fitting I have a little white block with 3 sockets for eath, neutral and live.

I think I'm at the stage now where I need to know step by step which of those wires I'm supposed to put in to the block.

Thanks

Chris

 

[RF Lighting]

Have a look here:

//www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:lighting:rose

 

[breezer]

also mark the cables before you take any out, and as you can take pictures, take a picture after you mark them

 

[Benty666]

These blocks (they gray ones from the diagram) that I'm told to put the wires in, do they have a name so I can go out and buy them?

Also where do the blue and brown wires go because according to those diagrams I'm placing the red, black and green/yellow wires into my new light fitting block?

 

[Click-Sure]

Connector blocks, affectionatly known as choc-blocks in the trade.
Why do you need any more, does your new light fitting not have an extra one for the loop?

Sidenote:
You don't need to know what we call screwits (outlawed, but I still come across them)

 

[securespark]

Use white (or light coloured) insulation tape and biro to mark the wires as to where they go. Take a macro shot of the rose with the cover removed.

I assume the fitting is correctly wired at the moment and working.

Note that all the wires currently attached to the blue conductor should go together to connect to the neutral of the new fitting.

The wire(s) attached to the brown conductor should go to the switched live connection of the new fitting.

The green/yellow conductors need to be connected to the body of the new fitting.

Any wires in the central (or loop) terminals of the ceiling rose are permanent live.

You do not want to connect these to your new fitting's wiring, but they do need connecting to each other, just as they are in the existing ceiling rose.

 

[Benty666]

My new light fitting I bought at an auction for 3 quid and the instructions are missing. Thats why I'm trying to cover as much as possible before I go ahead and do this.

I've just been out and bought some terminal blocks and I'm gonna study the guide a little more before I go ahead and try it out.

I intend to take a load of different photographs incase I need to reinstall the original rose.