Electrical Problems

[Rossaldinho]

Hi guys i hope you can help me.

I have just purchased my first house and am loving the DIY.

Small problem tho. I havepurchased a spotlight to replace the current light in one of the bedrooms. The spotlight has the brown and blue wires and the neutral wire.

However when i has unscrewed the previous light there are also 2 grey wires and a red wire.

What are these? Could i connect the light and leave the extra wires?

Help. Thanks

 

[davy_owen_88]

Small problem tho. I havepurchased a spotlight to replace the current light in one of the bedrooms. The spotlight has the brown and blue wires and the neutral wire.

The blue wire is neutral... The green/yellow wire is earth and the brown wire is phase. If that was a simple mistake then no problem, but if you don't even know the difference between earth and neutral then I would seriously suggest that you contact a qualified electrician.

When you say you unscrewed the light have you actually disconnected the conductors from the terminals? If you haven't, take a picture before you go any further. If you have you have just turned a simple job into a pain in the ass.
Are you sure the grey wires are actually grey and you are not just looking at the cable sheath?
Can you see if any of the wires have a marker on them such as tape or sleeving?
Can you tell if any of the wires are part of the same cable (twin and earth etc.)

And no, you can not just leave the extra wires out out. They need to be connected properly for the light to work.

 

[Rossaldinho]

Thanks for the info. I have decided that its not worth the risk so i have found an electrician who will do it for a tenner.

Il stick to what im good at and thats pest control

 

[NewOrder]

A tenner

Do you know him? If not I would be a bit worried, it seems too cheap, especialy if call out is involved. I fix computers for a living and occassionaly will charge my regular customers a tenner if its a very simple job like clearing out the printer spool, but I don't have any idea how a spark can do this job for a tenner, I mean it iwll take a while to do all the testing etc.

The last time my mate got a cheap spark in he blew the entire lighting circuit, the plonker turned out ot be a thick trainee and got confused with joining the new wire colours to the old red/black ones.

 

[sealeon]

maybe the two grey wires are singles and it is the sheath your looking at as was said

 

[Grinning Grandad]

Il stick to what im good at and thats pest control

You don't happen to know the whereabouts of sidmus do you?

 

[pbar]

Il stick to what im good at and thats pest control

Could you eradicate Phil Collins?