Help! My Light Won't Work!

[spider-dan]

Hi

When you say connect the red and black of one of those cables, what am I connecting the red and black to?

 

[JohnD]

Cable Red to lamp Brown. Cable black to lamp Blue.

 

[spider-dan]

I've wired it both ways now and neither of them make the light turn on.

What does that mean?!

 

[fireman22]

previous light not sending any power. did you change any other lights in the house previous one is main suspect. there may be a cable out / snapped as my previous post (that u didnt reply to) just thought when you took down the halogen fitting one cable didnt slip up into the ceiling void i.e. you should have 3 cables watch out it may be live

 

[spider-dan]

The Kitchen light is the last light downstairs, so should there still be three sets of cables?

I'll take another look at the lounge light, that sounds like it might be the problem!

 

[fireman22]

i am sitting near my comp one eye on scotland so keep posting and i will reply. if it is the last light there will be only two grey cables as your pic

 

[spider-dan]

Great thanks, I'll relocate my ladder to the lounge and investigate!

 

[spider-dan]

Three red wires were not connected to my lounge light, if I wire them in do you think I might have a solution?!

 

[fireman22]

spot on sure it will be ok now. but maybe only one needs to be connected

 

[securespark]

Three red wires were not connected to my lounge light

 

[spider-dan]

Ok, so I rewired the lounge light, all 4 red wires into the loop, one black to the live and two to the neutral and got nothing! It seems that no matter which combination of blacks I use (hoping to find the one that is the switch) the light does not work.

Also all the lights in the house are not working now, I assume I have blown the fuse. But when I took the fuse out it looks intact. It has a wire from one end to the other, is that right?

Thanks for your help!

Lucy

 

[JohnD]

Ok, so I rewired the lounge light, all 4 red wires into the loop, one black to the live and two to the neutral and got nothing! It seems that no matter which combination of blacks I use (hoping to find the one that is the switch) the light does not work.

Also all the lights in the house are not working now, I assume I have blown the fuse. But when I took the fuse out it looks intact. It has a wire from one end to the other, is that right?

Thanks for your help!

Lucy

1) rather than rewire from guesswork, it will be very helpful if you identify the Supply cable first, then the Switch cable (for which you will need a £10 multimeter available from your local hardware store).

2) try swapping the fuseholder with another 5A fuseholder, if youhave separate fuses for upstairs and dwon. If not, take the fuseholder out into good light, and inspect it closely - there might be a break "inside thge tunnel" wheer you can't see it. Remove the old fusewire a fit a new piece, you may see a break when you take it out.

 

[spider-dan]

Thanks, I have replaced the fuse wire, just in case, but the lights are still not working, upstairs or downstairs, eek!

I have a multimeter, how do I use it to identify the supply wire and the switch wire?

Thanks!

Lucy

 

[JohnD]

If none of your lights are working, and you have changed the fusewire, i don't know what the trouble is. It might be that a loose connection, e.g. in a ceiling rose, has burnt out or come loose Test the cables at the first rose for a start. I gather you have an old Wylex "Standard" consumer unit with rewirable fuses. If it is a brown one it may have permanently live terminals on the main switch inside that you can touch even when it is switched off, so best not to remove the cover. It may be time for you to ask friends and neighbours if they can recommend a local electrician.

Check all your other fuses just in case the lights have been put on a fuse that is not marked "lights" with white spots on it.

However:

How to locate the supply cable, if you have a multimeter:

(Assuming you have supply to the ceiling rose)

Set your meter to AC volts in a range that includes 250v
Plug in the probes as per instruction sheet
If you put one probe on the black, and one probe on the red, of a cable, and get approx 230c AC, then that is your supply cable.

Turn off the power, and with the meter still set to AC Volts, test all wires to make sure they are dead. then, set your meter to low Ohms, or Continuity, or 200 ohms or whatever the lowest resistance scale is. Put the light switch to the "on" position. Test across the red and black wires of each cable. When you find one with very* low resistance, turn the switch to the "off" position If the resistance then increases to approx infinity (or "continuity" indicator goes off), but returns when the light switch is turned "on" then that is your switch cable. (* if you test a cable that has a light bulb connected to it in another room, you will get continuity, but at a higher resistance, and it will not go on and off with the light switch. however it will go if you take out all the light bubs)

Any other cables you find are likely to be supply to the next ceiling rose (you can verify this by connecting to your already-identified Supply cable, and carrying out the same set of tests at the next rose). Sometimes there will be more than one other rose fed from the one you are looking at.

 

[fireman22]

can you put lounge light back as it was, change/check wire fuse so you can grt back to where you were.