lighting

[jojosparks]

iv just taken the light in the kitchen down and the oyher half asked me to take all the tape off as it was falling off anyhow. the thing is i dont know where the the wires go can you advise please there is 4black 4red 4ground

[Steve]

your name is misleading, it implies you are a spark, which you appear not to be. One of those red and black pairs is a feed and return to a switch. Use your multimeter to find the right one, then report back.

Why did you not note what goes where? What is this tape you speak of?

[dynagirl]

I hate to "piggy-back" on someone else's post, but I've been trying for 15 minutes to post this as a new topic and can't seem to make it work...

Please have pity and mercy on me. I have NO CLUE about electrics.

We just moved into a Victorian terrace with one of the old style fuse boxes. I didn't like the light fixture in the lounge (single bulb with an uplighter), so I decided to change it. Bought a nice cheap & cheerful 3-bulb fixture from Wilkinsons and I proceeded to "swap" them out, following the directions implicitly.

Everything seemed to be hooked up right and the lights worked - yeah! Moved on to the hall light (same floor), but the fitting one of the screws was in in the ceiling came out along with some extra plaster, so couldn't put the new fixture up - and couldn't put the old one back, either. So there's nothing fixed to the wires there - made sure they weren't touching and left it alone.

The lights for the lounge, the hall, the kitchen, the utility room and the bathroom are all on the same floor, on the same fuse box (forgive me if my terms aren't correct) on a 30amp fuse. In order from the fuse box out, the rooms go: lounge, hall, kitchen, utility room, bathroom.

The lights all worked fine in all the rooms for hours. Then, suddenly, the fuse blew and everything went on the ground floor. My husband replaced the fuse wire, and there was light again. For about an hour or so, then the fuse blew again. We replaced it again, and made sure only one room was lit at a time (not knowing if this would really have any effect...).

This seemed to work for a while. We were leaving on holiday and having a friend house-sit. Second day in, he told us that the fuse blew yet again (he had been over the night before we left, when all the previous fuse blowing had occured). He left it all alone, and it stayed that way until we got back.

We got back and replaced the fuse wire and it blew yet again. So now we have lamps plugged into the wall sockets in the lounge, kitchen and utility room (don't ask about the bathroom....). It's just the ceiling stuff that doesn't work - the sockets are fine.

So, any ideas what I/we did wrong? Is it because there isn't anything hooked up to the hall light? Is it because we messed something up with the lounge light?

HELP!!