Pendant has power but bulb won't illuminate!

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14 Jan 2010
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Bristol
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United Kingdom
This is very frustrating - I have put a junction box on a twin and earth1.5/1.0 supply feed cable to get power into the loft for a light. I then fed that new cable to a 3 plate ceiling rose and a cable to the switch - all cables are 2+E 1.5/1.0. The pendant has a current and the switch cable has a current but the bulb won't come on ...What have I done wrong?
 
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You really want to be testing for voltage rather than current, but what did you use to test this?
If a neon/test screwdriver or non-contact voltage pen/stick. This will not confirm that you have a complete circuit.
You need a two pole/probe voltage tester (the least expensive will be a multi meter).
Then test between Live/Line and Earth/CPC and between Live/Line and Earth/CPC for 240V, then double check between Neutral and Earth/CPC for no voltage.
Check at fitting first, if that fails then check at junction box.
The issues my lie with:
*The lamp/Bulb
*The Connection of the Lamp cables or Lampholder
*Connection at the rose and/or Junction Box
*Check for loose connections on all conductors
*Check for trapped cable insulations within connectors
*If you have had a reading from a non-contact stick or test screwdriver, these can be unreliable and you probably have a neutral out.
 
Perhaps the cable you wired the junction box into didn't contain live and neutral.

If that cable was a 'switch cable' then it would contain live and switch live - so there wouldn't be a neutral.


As well as taking the advice from the earlier post, trace where that cable you connected into goes, and we can confirm if that was the correct cable to use.
 
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Yeah well I got the multimeter out and there is no voltage so I think I must have connected to a switch cable I took a guess as to which to use and guessed wrong.
 
Electrical installation by guesswork is a ridiculous idea.

This time all that happened was nothing.

Next time you might suddenly get far more excitement than you really wanted.
 

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