Idiot with screw driver needs help!

[andywatson]

Hi,

I need some advice before my girlfriend kills me

Our bedroom has no main light, and in a fit of generosity I said I would fit one. I bought an IKEA light, and it had a plastic connector for a live and neutral wire. Since the rose had no fitting, I had to add 2 wires- one in the neutral part of the rose, and one into the live. I then connected these to the appropriate part of the fitting on the new light.

When I turned the light on, rather than a beautiful glow in the bedroom, the rest of the lights went out!! Surprisingly the fuse hadn't tripped in the box, and when I took out the connections I had added the lights stayed off.

Anyone got any idea what I have done, and how I can fix it?

Thanks in advance

Andy

 

[lindsayg]

What do you mean 'you had to add two wires'?

Also, did you cut anything?

Undo anything?

Anything else you want to tell us?

 

[Adam_151]

You've either knocked a connection apart, or wired it wrong and blown a fuse or made a week connection give up the ghost?

Are you sure you haven't knocked anything loose?
Was there a bang at all?
Are you sure the fuse is ok? and not just failed at the end? Try swapping it with the downstairs one?


A photo of the fusebox area might be usful to have on here...

 

[andywatson]

The 2 wires I added were from the ceiling rose into the plastic connection in the light fitting- it was a completely bare rose before.

Didn't cut anything except a spare piece of 3 core wire to get my 2 short insulated bits I needed for the 2 connections above.

Pretty certain I haven't knocked anything loose, as I am pretty careful with electrics, as I know it is a black art!!

There was no bang of any kind.

By the fuse at the end, do you mean the one in the fuse box?

 

[daytona]

you shouldnt have put any wires into the live,it should be in the switchline and this maybe the problem.try tightening all the connections.
on light fitting put blue into the two blacks on the rose and the brown onto the single black

 

[DESL]

This may be of help

//www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:lighting:rose

 

[andywatson]

OK,

Thanks for the help so far.

Looking at the diagram it looks like I connected my light into the neutral and the loop block, and I guess that's caused my problem. I will check the connections and make sure they are all tight. I will swap a fuse over in the fuse box and see if I blew one of those!

Fingers crossed, and thanksagain

Andy

 

[RF Lighting]

If you had connected between loop and neutral the new light would have just stayed on all the time.


It would not have created a fault which could cause the other lights to go off.


I think you have probably disturbed one of the loop connections (live and or neutral)

 

[andywatson]

OK, some feedback.

Having spent a couple of days wondering what I have done wrong, and having ignored the idea that I had knocked a connection loose for a more complicated (and manly) reason, I decided to waste a few minutes checking the connections before swapping the fuses and driving to B & Q.

Guess what............ one of the connections was loose, and took about 1 minute to fix!!!

Many thanks to everyone that took the time to help me out.

For my next problem has anyone got any suitable excuses for what went wrong that is
a) Not my fault
b) Makes me a hero for sorting it out!!!!

Thanks again

Andy

 

[bernardgreen]

An excuse is never enough.......

You need a REASON


Just blame the previous chap with a screw driver who had the cheek to call himself an electrician.

 

[Space cat]

For my next problem has anyone got any suitable excuses for what went wrong that is
a) Not my fault
b) Makes me a hero for sorting it out!!!!

It's obvious. The screw must have been loose all along and the wire was just resting in the hole. The lights could have all gone out at any time. There could even have been a fire!

It's a good general rule that if there was one dodgy one there might be more so the sooner you check all the others the better. This will take hours, after which you'll be suffering from nervous exhaustion so you'll have to spend the rest of the day with your feet up in front of the TV!