light fitting 4 wires into 3 ?

[peterp]

hi
im new here so please b patient!
i am trying to fit a new light.....from the ceiling i have 4 wires..red, yellow, blue and yellow/green
the new light has 3 screw fittings with wires to the light being... blue brown and yellow/green which 4 go to which 3????????

 

[plugwash]

this is NOT a normal way of wiring up lighting and so we can't tell you which wire is which

i take it you didn't record what went where before removing the old light.

can you get access from above and trace where the cable goes?

 

[peterp]

i know that if i put blue to blue
earth to earth
and join red and yellow together the light works but it wont turn off at the dimmer switch!

 

[peterp]

from the old ceiling rose the yellow went to L
the red went to loop in
and the blue went to N
and earth earth

 

[Lectrician]

Connect as you did, but leave the red connected to nothing. You will need to put this conductor into a terminal block.

If doesn't work, switch the yellow with the red.

Incidently, the yellow should have some red sleeve on it, and the blue should have some black. (or the yellow and red both have brown, but thats a different story )

 

[peterp]

with the red wire connected and the yellow not...the light worls but wont turn off
with the yellow connected and the red not the light does not work!

 

[plugwash]

did you try other wiring setups before finding the one that left it permanently on?

if so then you almost certainly put mains direct accross the dimmer and blew it

replace the dimmer with a normal switch and then try again (and only fit a new dimmer when everything is working)

 

[peterp]

ok i will try that.....thanks

 

[peterp]

new light working properly...red cable was the odd one out....new dimmer was needed
thanks a lot
ps the girlfriend thinks im well clever!

 

[plugwash]

rememer to suitablly cap off the red wire using terminal block or similar

my guess is that the lighting point was moved by someone who didn't understand ligting cuircuits and they saw the loop connection at the light fitting and thought they needed to carry it through to the new light location.

 

[peterp]

fitted a terminal to the red..thank u so much for the help

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

new light working properly...red cable was the odd one out....new dimmer was needed
thanks a lot
ps the girlfriend thinks im well clever!

Don't let her find out where you got the answer from then will you