Light stays on in another room

[martingale]

Please can someone give help on an issue arising of the mirror light in the bathroom staying on constantly, albeit dull, after I changed a ceiling rose in the bedroom. I haven't touched the wiring for the mirror.
The wiring in the bedroom rose was three earths (two from the ceiling and one from the light fitting), now all screwed down to the earth screws on the metal light fitting rose pendant support - the earth screws were marked as for the earth. A grey/bluish sheathed cable is connected to the live (red) cable in the light fitting - the light switch has the same coloured cable with a red sheath slid over it. The black wire (neutral) is connected to the brown wire in the light fitting. There were two other red wires that I presumed were the live wires and I have connected those together in an independent block.
All lights in the house work normally, including the new pendant in the bedroom, apart from this mirror light remaining on as dull light - it glows brighter if I press the button on the mirror for the light; if relevant, when having a shower - prior to changing the pendant - the mirror light used to come on, presumably because of the steam and stay on until the room was steam free.
Please can anyone give me an idea on how to deal with the mirror light? I presume that the fault lies with my wiring of the pendant. Should I have used separate blocks for the two red wires instead of putting them in the same block? But, how would that affect the mirror light?
Thanks for any help/ideas.
Martin

 

[Robin0577]

Almost certainly something has been miswired so that the mirror light is now connected in series with something else.

You need to go back over your wiring and check it. I'm afraid "presuming" things isn't going to be good enough to sort this out, you'll need to understand how lighting circuits work and how to test which cables go where.

You can look here //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=37582 for examples of how typical lighting circuits are wired and you'll need some kind of continuity tester or multimeter to test what goes where. Provided you can understand the diagrams in the wiki, this should be fairly simple to sort out.

 

[martingale]

I don't have any continuity tester or multimeter. Is there any other way to check or do I need a professional? Is it dangerous as it is or is it OK to leave until tomorrow, i.e. Monday?

 

[Robin0577]

It is unlikely that leaving it until tomorrow will be dangerous.

You really do need at least some basic test equipment for this and whilst you could go and buy something and learn to use it, a pro would probably take well under an hour to sort this, so it could well work out quicker and cheaper in the end.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Making a note of the old connections would have been soooo helpful

 

[stillp]

prior to changing the pendant - the mirror light used to come on, presumably because of the steam and stay on until the room was steam free.

Doesn't sound as if it's ever been right!

 

[martingale]

I did note all connections but the old rose was plastic with an inbuilt multiple block that had 9 potential connections, not all of which were used, as well as earth connections. The new pendant is metal with two earth connections on the metal support for the pendant and only a single plastic box containing two connection blocks for simply the live switch ( a grey wire) and the black neutral wire. That left the two red live wires (loop wiring?) that I connected to each other either side of an independent block that I chanced to have in my DIY box. It didn't help that the grey wire had no sleeve, but thankfully the wall switch had the same coloured cable with a red sleeve on it.
Martin

 

[martingale]

A local spark came today, checked my wiring and found it all as should be. The mirror light that was staying on is of a type that has a chrome button on the front that you touch to switch the light on/off. Apparently there is a circuit board behind the button and when the electricity tripped when I was changing the rose it affected the circuit board connection. The spark cut of supply to the mirror and then reconnected it, which reset the circuit and the button and light now works as normal - perhaps this will be a tip for anyone having a similar problem in future. He only charged £20, which I thought was very fair.

 

[Robin0577]

Well, there's a perfect example of the limitations that asking questions on a forum like this can have. I think it would most likely have been a very long time and several pages of Q & A before any of us here reached that conclusion without seeing the problem in the flesh!

Good to hear you got it sorted at a reasonable cost.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

when the electricity tripped when I was changing the rose

You didn't mention that.

The spark cut of supply to the mirror and then reconnected it, which reset the circuit and the button and light now works as normal

Cutting off the supply was what had already happened when you tripped the RCD.

Reconnecting the supply was what had already happened when you turned the RCD back on.