help please with adding a new light in bathroom

[givmeaccccc]

can anyone help please?

i am trying to put a second light in my bathroom and have both existing and new light comne on from existing switch. BUT i cannot get access to the ceiling rose for the existing light due to the presence of a metal beam which has been put in after existing light wired in. i can get clear access to the switch but have tried just running a red and black direct from the switch to new light.

this doesn't work. it puts the new light on and the old one off and then reverses with the switch although the new one lights dimly.

further complication is that the existing light has 3 cable into it although 2 of the reds are just taped together and put above ceiling.

is there any way that i can get this light to work but still use the same switch to put new and existing on together?

mike

 

[Steve]

Theres no neutral at the light switch. You need to access a neutral. There will be one at a ceiling rose or a junction box in the loft.

 

[givmeaccccc]

many thanks crafty. does that mean i need to run a single wire from a neutral to the new light fitting and then a single live from the switch to the other side of the new fitting? sorry still being stupid but just cannot visualise how it works.

 

[breezer]

no you dont, have a look in the sticky for refernce section for lots of nice drawings

 

[givmeaccccc]

thanks breezer. have had a look through the diagrams and found one that shows how to connect 2 lights together. my problem is i just cannot get access to the original ceiling rose and light.

i have even now ran a cable out of the loft along the hall and put it staright into the bathroom light ceiling rose and hey presto it works a treat. only problem is my wife wouldn't like me to leave it like that hanging down the loft and along hall ceiling, also means we cannot close the door. but seriously it has proved that it will work but still doesn't solve my access problem. have been at this since 11am today and getting really ragged with it all!

help please there must be a simple answer to this even for someone as daft as me?

 

[plugwash]

you can't connect just to the switch because you only have live and switched live there not neutral.

going to the light you should have 3 cables: one to the switch (with red permanent live and black switched live) and two connecting from between the lights on the circuit (with red permanent live and black neutral).

cut the switch cable and one of the other cables and insert a junction box, then tap off your new light from there.

note: diagram initially had a minor error which has now been corrected.

 

[Steve]

have you been drinking plugwash? i am not correcting this one.

 

[plugwash]

what if any errors have you found? (yeah i know its messy but i'm not going to spend hours on a diagram for a forum)

 

[Steve]

what if any errors have you found? (yeah i know its messy but i'm not going to spend hours on a diagram for a forum)

no errors, but a few minutes would have been better than 30 seconds

 

[mo2]

thanks breezer. have had a look through the diagrams and found one that shows how to connect 2 lights together. my problem is i just cannot get access to the original ceiling rose and light.

i have even now ran a cable out of the loft along the hall and put it staright into the bathroom light ceiling rose and hey presto it works a treat. only problem is my wife wouldn't like me to leave it like that hanging down the loft and along hall ceiling, also means we cannot close the door. but seriously it has proved that it will work but still doesn't solve my access problem. have been at this since 11am today and getting really ragged with it all!

help please there must be a simple answer to this even for someone as daft as me?

go into the loft and thread it trough the ceiling where the rest of the cables come from

 

[givmeaccccc]

many thanks to you all for your time and advice. i spent all of yesterday morning drilling through wooden beams to get access to existing rose with no luck. i have tried repeatedly to thread through another cable to the rose with the existing ones but after careful measuring it looks like a 'check' had been taken out of the beam at the bottom when the house was built. unfortunatley it was just big enough for the 3 cables going through and absolutley no more.

am going up agin to have another look at see if i can identify which cable i could cut as suggested above.

thanks again will let you know how i get on.