Help wiring ceiling pendant

[floorwoes47]

Hi,

I am trying to put up a light fitting.

In the ceiling at the moment is an ordinary plastic ceiling rose with the three blocks of terminals.

My problem is the light fitting I have has only a small "cup" on the end which will not fit over the existing ceiling rose to hide it.

I've managed to wire it up correctly on top of the ceiling rose and screw it to the ceiling but it looks dreadful as you can see the plastic ceiling rose underneath.

What are my options? Could I remove the ceiling rose entirely and replace it just with a block of terminals? On the basis I could wire the block up and push that into the roof void leaving the ceiling flush to screw my light fitting to?

I have a strip/block of the plastic terminals if the above suggestion is okay, please could someone tell me how to wire it?

The wires coming from the ceiling at the moment are:

Black with red sleeve (switch)
Two more black wires

For some reason there are no reds coming into the central "loop" section in the plastic ceiling rose. These seem to be all bundled together and taped up in a plastic terminal block pushed into the ceiling void already. No idea why this is.

All the earths were bent together and pushed into the void but my light fitting is metal so I plan to use these wires with the earth from the light fitting - presumably I would need one block in my terminal to put all these wires in together?

Any guidance would be much appreciated as I can't afford to get an electrician in and would just like to get this light up. Many thanks.

 

[sparkyspike]

You have the right idea about what to do. Remove the rose, use terminal blocks for the four connections (live [bunch of reds], sw live [black with red sleeve] neutral and earth). If you have room in the ceiling use a 'choc box' terminal cover.

 

[floorwoes47]

Hi Sparkyspike,

Many thanks for your helpful reply.

Pls can I just check one bit? If I just have one long plastic terminal block and wire everything up like you said, is it okay to group the three earth wires together and just put them into one side of the block and then put the earth wire from my light fitting into the opposite of that part of the block so it connects up with the three earth wires from the ceiling?

What is throwing me about the earth wires is that on everything I've looked at (sockets, light switches and ceiling roses) they all seem to go into a separate terminal which is always copper and not plastic - is it safe/correct to just put all the earths into a normal plastic terminal block?

Sorry, am a bit new to all this in case you can't tell ... but so far have wired 3 lights and changed my sockets and switches to chrome without mishap or burning smells...

Thx again!

 

[Steve]

Yes, you need 4 terminals. Into one, insert all the lives. Into the next, all the neutrals, and so on. Most light fittings come with four terminals supplied and wired ready.

Terminal blocks are very versatile things. You can either wire them so you strip more sheath off, twist together and insert all one end, so all the wires go under both screws (my preferred way, its more robust), OR, the "correct" way which is to strip the standard 6-7mm off the sheath and grip with one screw, using both ends of the block.

 

[floorwoes47]

Hi Steve,

Many thanks, that's really helpful. Off to finish my last light now...!