Ceiling Light's - Help me please

[Dave9]

hi, i'm trying to fit ceiling lights:

I basically copied the old wiring, but after I wired them only one of them worked!

This has mind boggled me, cause I done my whole house myself & still working fine to this day, but when I attempted my sisters house it didn't go so well and now none of them work!!! (i feel like an idiot)

I followed the stickied reference guides, but still wont work, what exactly is causing it not to work now? (blown fuse in main box?, can i change it)

They are x2 living room lights... 1 wall switch powers the 2 lights (2 buttons), the other switch powers x1 living room light & upstairs light. (also 2 buttons)


The switch that controls 2 lights consists of:

wire 1:
Red wire = Nothing
black with red band = L1

wire 2:
Red wire = L1
Black with red band = L2

COM to COM

the second switch pictured is as it was.

I wired the both lights like so...
Black wire to blue
Red to nothing
Black with red band to brown (obviously earth connections aswell)

I'm very sorry to ask these questions, I admit im no electrician, I did this myself simply because of financial reasons, anyone willing to help me through this i'll chuck u tenner for helping me...

Or simply if you think I have totally messed up then I will call the electrician round, but I would like to know why i messed up.

Yes, I suck.

 

[johnny_t]

I've not really worked out what's happening with your circuit, but at a guess, that loose red wire has popped out of a terminal and should be in at either end of the link wire linking the two COMS. Might not be though, so don't try it if you are not confident with electrics or scared of bangs

 

[Dave9]

thanks mate, will try it.

but haven't I blown something already? (didn't hear bang)

cause it worked yesterday (with the red cable sticking out) & then it just stopped working.

ps the fuse in the box is 5a.

(ps, the last pic. The wire with the white dot on it, supposed to have a red ring)

 

[johnny_t]

Again, another guess, but if the screw that is holding in the wire that I guessed popped out was loose enough for that wire to pop out, it may not be in contact with the other wire that was in the same hole either.....

 

[Dave9]

it may not be in contact with the other wire that was in the same hole either.....

cheers

I'll just have to keep trying.

Even if I wire it right this time, I don't think it will work.

like I said before, its just gone dead... what exactly is the worse thing that can happen? ... have I blown a fuse? (easy to replace?)

please help, im really stumped here.

 

[Steve]

ah, dave 9, long time no see

The good news is you wont blow any fuses or anything just by messing with the wires in the switches, since there are no neutrals there.

As johnny_t has said, try connecting that stray red to either COM. And if everything's dead, try the fuse. Chances are, that red is the permenant live and it shorted to the metal backbox at some point.

What's that stray black on the second switch? With the red ring on it?

You say the second switch is closest to the light you pictured, so i would expect, (from these pics) that red in the top of switch 2 (right) to be the switched live. So where's the switched live at the light? Is that fitting the new one or the old one? Was it always wired like this? Where was the light connected originally?

 

[Dave9]

Thanks alot crafty mate, I can try it again now.

I'll let you know what happens, but after this attempt i'm gonna call the electrician if i cant do it.

cheers all, it really helps me.

 

[Dave9]

You say the second switch is closest to the light you pictured, so i would expect, (from these pics) that red in the top of switch 2 (right) to be the switched live. So where's the switched live at the light? Is that fitting the new one or the old one? Was it always wired like this? Where was the light connected originally?

Yes, it was wired like that - all I did was copy the old wire's.

left black with red band (white dot) was connected to Live Brown
right black was connected to neutral blue

the red wires didnt go anywhere.

and the stray black in switch 2 also went to nothing, it hasnt been stripped so it was never screwed into anything.

thanks for the help

 

[Steve]

now im confused. The light pictured - is this controlled by the left switch on the first picture ONLY? This would make sense going from the wiring at the light you describe.

For the light controlled by the 2 RIGHT switches pictured, i would expect the switched live at that light to be RED. That black - i would think this is the unused core of this switched live feed to a light, though why anyone would bother sleeving an unused, unstripped core is beyond me.

 

[Dave9]

now im confused. The light pictured - is this controlled by the left switch on the first picture ONLY? This would make sense going from the wiring at the light you describe.

No, the 2 switches control both lights.

For the light controlled by the 2 RIGHT switches pictured, i would expect the switched live at that light to be RED. That black - i would think this is the unused core of this switched live feed to a light, though why anyone would bother sleeving an unused, unstripped core is beyond me.

thanks for that, i will wire the second light like:
2 red to brown
1 black to blue

hopefully this will work now, cheers for help crafty, helped me alot

 

[Steve]

worth a try, dont blame me if it goes wrong though. im now totally confused. and im not a real spark - i just know a lot about electrics.

 

[Dave9]

worth a try, dont blame me if it goes wrong though. im now totally confused. and im not a real spark - i just know a lot about electrics.

You are good, I did what you said and put 1 red wire in the 2nd light.

Johnny you are good too, cause I put that stray red in the first switch & walla!!!

it worked, im so chuffed - thanks guys, really appreciated that you took the time to help me, without you I would not of done it.

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks Alot bigtime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111



Oh and i had to change the 5A fuse in main box.