Do I take it that all the other lights in the house are working normally? If so, I suspect that something must have gone wrong with the connection at the other end (wherever that may be) of that black wire which is meant to be the neutral.
You mustn't "just" do that.
Yes, that it what one should do and, as you say, failure to do so does present a potential risk. How many people, particularly DIYers, would actually check earth continuity before connecting something to it is, of course, a very different matter.
AndyPRK";p="3230696 said:
That would be three sparkies plus little me, I presume4 sparky's can't be wrong,can we ?
That's good to hear - I might get sad if I thought I'd been left out
I think most of us have suggested/asked that, but ...I bet the bulbs gone
I think the evidence is increasingly accumulating that, for whatever reason, a neutral is not getting to the bulb/lamp.
Good.
OK. Do I take it that your tester does not show power to the bulb when the switch is off, and that it shows power to both sides of the bub when the switch is on?
Yes, the 'live' (one of the blacks) is getting to one side of the bulb, as intended. However, it seems that the other side of the bulb (the other black) is not connected to neutral, so there is no path for current to flow, and hence make the bulb light. In that situation, when you test on the side of the bulb which should be connected to neutral, you still see voltage, because it's getting to your tester through the bulb. If all were working normally, the fact that the other side of the bulb was connected to neutral would mean that you wouldn't see any voltage there (even with a proper meter/tester).
Yes, in 'old colours', normally red is 'live' and black neutral (with 'new colours, that would be brown and blue respectively). However, if one wants a cable to carry two live (or potentially live) conductors (e.g. with the cable to a switch - one conductor always live and the other, "switched live", live when the switch is on) it is common to use the black one for the 'switched live'. However, when that is done, one should put a bit of red sleeving over the black at both ends, to indicate that it is being used as a 'live', hence avoiding the confusion (and hence potential danger) you are experiencing.
You really shouldn't be doing work on your electrics until you understand how they work.
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