Ceiling light with no earth

[Salsie]

Hi
Please can someone help. I’ve got a light from John Lewis which says in the instructions that it must be earthed as it’s class 1.
there’s a diagram which shows the wires for the product and then the wires in my house, however there is no earth in the light fitting…
Do you think I have a faulty product or is that white wire something to do with it! I’ve attached photos which I hope explain what I mean.
Thanks
Sally

 

[ETAF]

or is that white wire something to do with it!

its not a wire - its a metal tab which connects the chassis to the earth, i have fitted a few like that from john lewis
it also holds the terminal block in place

 

[Salsie]

So where is my earth? It clearly says in the instructions it has to be earthed and in the diagram it shows how the light earth must be connected to the household earth…
What have you done in the past with JL lights? Thanks

 

[terryplumb]

The light fittings earth is the little metal tab in the centre terminal. The instructions are badly worded / illustrated .
I don't like the white paint ,check it's bare metal contacting the terminal screw

 

[Salsie]

Thanks Terry. I wondered if that’s what it was but i was looking for the yellow/green wire.. not clear at all.
The light fitting is metal. Don’t think there’s any white paint. much appreciate. Feel a bit more confident at wiring it up now I know the earth is def there!

 

[terryplumb]

The metal isn't white ,it's got some white coating on it ,paint /powder coating or whatever. My point was to make certain the terminal screw is contacting bare metal ,do you have a multimeter to check resistance ? It's probably ok ,but I would want to make sure it is.

 

[Salsie]

I don’t. As you can probably tell I’m no expert! The terminal screw isn’t touching the white coated metal. It’s on the green label thing and then the back plate will sit over the terminal plate. It’s brand new and I reckon John Lewis should be fine! Thanks again

 

[big-all]

in general the input side off a terminal can be any colours you like including all white as they are fixed and part off the light fitting
its only on the flex /cable or output side where it translates to the recognized colours that in themselves can vary with age off the house wiring
if you think the tab on the earth is loose then the connection block will easily rotate on the pin through the hole going further on and off the white earth tab but suspect it will be quite firm??

 

[Risteard]

The light fittings earth is the little metal tab in the centre terminal. The instructions are badly worded / illustrated .
I don't like the white paint ,check it's bare metal contacting the terminal screw

It's neither badly worded nor illustrated. It clearly has "or metallic Earth connection" written in the instructions.

 

[Salsie]

Fair enough but to me the tiny white thing was not what I was expecting to be described as metallic… my mistake

 

[EFLImpudence]

I think your misunderstanding is that "the light should have an earth"; it cannot.
It has an earth connection.

The metal casing of the lamp must "be earthed" by connecting it to the electrical supply earth - with a green and yellow wire.
You may do that with a massive nut and bolt or a tiny piece of metal shaped from the casing of the lamp to which the G/Y wire is connected.

This is the symbol for "earth connection"
.

 

[Salsie]

Thank you

 

[SUNRAY]

I'm reading the more recent replies in this thread and start wondering if the confusion is based on whether you have an earth wire in the existing wiring in your ceiling or not.

 

[JohnW2]

I'm reading the more recent replies in this thread and start wondering if the confusion is based on whether you have an earth wire in the existing wiring in your ceiling or not.

I don't really see anything in what has been written which suggests that anyone has doubted that there is a CPC available from the house wiring (if there isn't, that's a whole different problem!).

The main confusion seems to be that the OP was seemingly expecting a 'wire' (probably with G/Y insulation) for the 'earth' on the fitting side of the terminal block, so was confused when the connection was only by a metal tab (which he probably thought was just a mechanical fixing for the block).

Kind Regards, John

 

[Salsie]

Hi John
Yes you are correct! I was expecting a green/yellow wire and wasn’t familiar with the white metal tab.
This is my first time posting here and v impressed how helpful you’ve all been!
Thank you
Sally