Earth cable for metal pendant light

[dabhand7]

Hi,

Apologies for the basic question, but I have this pendant light; metal lamp holder, twisted flex, metal ceiling rose, and I need to shorten the flex. The flex has the earth wire connected to the lamp holder at one end (obv) and the rose has an earth cable attached to it under the nut in the centre. The instructions that came with it aren't exactly clear but indicate that the earth wire of the flex should be connected to the nut in the centre i.e. attached to the rose earth cable, and then the rose earth cable should then be connected to the earth cable of the lighting circuit. Bearing in mind this came from the shop like this, am I right in thinking that, to save taking the rose to bits, I could just connect both earth cables to the earth cable of the lighting circuit instead, similar to how it looks in the photo?

TIA.

 

[John D v2.0]

Yes the main thing is make sure all the green and yellow are connected together including the one in the ceiling.
While you're in, make sure the one in the ceiling is not exposed at all outside the terminal block, it should have green and yellow sleeving covering it.
The live and neutral should also have insulation covering them outside the terminal block.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Yes.

The flex earth will then be connected to the nut - electrically.

 

[dabhand7]

Brill, that's what I thought, thanks both for your help.

 

[bernardgreen]

How many cables are there coming out of the ceiling ? If there are two ( ie two brown ( or red ) and two blue ( or black ) wires then make a note of which wires connect to the existing lamp ( probably the two blues ) and whether the two brown ( red ) wires are connected to each other but NOT connected to the lamp. If that is the case and you are removing the existing ceiling rose then you will need a four way terminal block to make the connects

(1) a blue ( black ) and one the blue of the lamp
(2) the other blue ( black ) and the brown from the lamp
(3) the two brown ( red ) wires and nothing else
(4) the earth wires from lamps and cables

 

[ban-all-sheds]

How many cables are there coming out of the ceiling ? If there are two ( ie two brown ( or red ) and two blue ( or black ) wires then make a note of which wires connect to the existing lamp ( probably the two blues ) and whether the two brown ( red ) wires are connected to each other but NOT connected to the lamp. If that is the case and you are removing the existing ceiling rose then you will need a four way terminal block to make the connects

Strange that you didn't consider the possibility of 3 cables.

dabhand - unless you know how lighting circuits work you should read this:

https://www.diynot.com/wiki/Electrics:Lighting-Rose

and the other articles in the Wiki about lighting - it would be much better to be tackling this job on the basis of a genuine understanding of how it all works and what you're doing, rather than just following instructions to put-this-wire-in-that-hole without truly knowing why.

 

[bernardgreen]

Strange that you didn't consider the possibility of 3 cables

It was an ommission on my part, but no doubt the OP would have questioned if there were 3 cables

 

[dabhand7]

How many cables are there coming out of the ceiling ? If there are two ( ie two brown ( or red ) and two blue ( or black ) wires then make a note of which wires connect to the existing lamp ( probably the two blues ) and whether the two brown ( red ) wires are connected to each other but NOT connected to the lamp. If that is the case and you are removing the existing ceiling rose then you will need a four way terminal block to make the connects

(1) a blue ( black ) and one the blue of the lamp
(2) the other blue ( black ) and the brown from the lamp
(3) the two brown ( red ) wires and nothing else
(4) the earth wires from lamps and cables

It was an ommission on my part, but no doubt the OP would have questioned if there were 3 cables

In this instance there is only one, but I do have another light with 3 that will need doing at some point so I'll bear this in mind. Thanks.

 

[winston1]

The instructions that came with it aren't exactly clear but indicate that the earth wire of the flex should be connected to the nut in the centre i.e. attached to the rose earth cable, and then the rose earth cable should then be connected to the earth cable of the lighting circuit.

Manufacturers instructions are guidance only and don't have to be strictly followed. This is especially important when they are wrong.