back to front wiring of ceiling lights

[1john]

I've got three cars and a van, does that make me a good driver?

Should the guy connect the switch to his fisrt identified feed cable and the switch is closed he will be connecting a dead short and also energising it. Imagine he has a plug in rewirable fuse, this gets worse doesn't it?

I think it is alot better for the sake of a tenner that anyone doing DIY electrics has a multi meter, they can even verify r1r2 readings within reason as well as safely bell through cables to identify them and check that voltage is dead when working on things. This also helps the DIYer uinderstand the circuit they are working on and can aid fault finding for themsekves in the future.

What we can do and what they should be advised to do MUST be two seperate things at times mate.

 

[fireman22]

hi delta,
switch off the wall switch and switch off the breaker 1st.

just read my post

he seems to be confident enough to take down and put up lights, at the end of the day, he only wants his lights to work

i dont know about you driving skills but in this climate to employ 6 i must be doing something right

 

[fireman22]

like most qualified electricians i come on this site to help people who have, say taken a light down, but cant get it working and its starting to get dark wife coming home etc lol.
i / we dont get paid its just to help and thats all

 

[deltafart]

Gents,

Can I thank each of you very much for your help in solving this problem. Taking your time to explain how to fix this is really appreciated... if any of you are ever in this neck of the woods (Bala) I'll gladly stand you a beer

All the best
Rob

 

[fireman22]

Rob, just as a matter of interest which method / way did you solve it?
all the best

 

[deltafart]

Not wishing to blatently sit on the fence here given the thread discussion it was actually a combination of all i.e. I blocked the cables as per your suggestion which allowed definate identity of the cables plus noting 1John & Holmslaw mentioning about the second light red going into the swith live (black wire with red tape) this is what I got ar*e about face by stupidly putting the neuteral in there hence the switch doing the reverse i.e. turning the second light on when switched off. Logical really and that's why I feel a tad stupid

Thanks again gents.
All the best
Rob