Replacing landing light

Rugbyboy15 · 4 May 2006

Hi,
I've taken off an old landing light in order to replace it with a new mains halogen one. However, I now have 4 cables sticking out of the ceiling each with a black,red and bare copper wire( i.e. 4 red wires, 4 black wires and 4 bare copper wires.)
The terminal block on the new light has one space for live, one for earth, one for neutral and one blank.
There is a switch downstairs and a switch upstairs for the light. I have a circuit tester.
Could someone please help me sort out which wire goes where as I'm getting a lot of grief from my girlfriend about not having a light on the landing at night!!!
Thanks,
Rugbyboy15.

Adam_151 · 4 May 2006

4 cables is an unusual number, do you know what they are for, or how they are wired at the moment

You imply its been without a light for a small while, how are the cables terminated at the moment?, does anything else not work?

RF Lighting · 4 May 2006

When the landing light was switched on (and still working) did any other lights come on at the same time? (Lower down the landing for example)

It could be that at your light you have two feeds (one in and one out), one live and switched live (to the switch) and one switched live and neutral (to the next light on the landing)

Do you have any idea how the wires were originally connected?

securespark · 4 May 2006

Adam_151 said:
4 cables is an unusual number

Why? It may be three plate + a permanent feed to another accessory.

Adam_151 · 4 May 2006

securespark said:
Adam_151 said:

4 cables is an unusual number

Click to expand...

Why? It may be three plate + a permanent feed to another accessory.

True, its just something that differs from the 3 plate method as the book shows it, and you don't know whether the extra feed is a switched feed or permanant feed if you are just told there are 4 cables there, I suppose unusual is a bit harsh, because its not as unusual as lights wired in 6mm SWA

also its just something that I think is best avoided if possible, don't like branching from a radial circuit, prefer to add to the end, makes testing easier for whoever comes a long later

securespark · 4 May 2006

Come to think of it, it may even be a switched feed to another fitting..

RF Lighting · 5 May 2006

RF Lighting said:
one switched live and neutral (to the next light on the landing)

As I suggested earlier....

Rugbyboy15 · 7 May 2006

Thanks for your replies. I've separated the wires and wrapped them in insulating tape and put the old ceiling rose cover over them at the moment.There are no other lights on the landing but there is a downstairs switch and an upstairs switch for this light.
I assumed that one cable was from the previous light, one to the next light, one for the downstairs switch and one for the upstairs switch. However, when I used a circuit tester to find out which cable was for the switches only one cable gave a positive result even though I tried turning the upstairs and the downstairs switches on at different times.
I think I'll have to admit defeat and get the proffessionals in!
Thanks for your help.

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Replacing landing light

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