new spotlights

[lights]

Am having problems with my new spot lights!

I am replacing a pendant light with a set of spots , the pendat light had 2 3 core cables running to it - 1 from mains and 1 from switch, I wanted to tidy this up with 1 cable so put in a junction box and tried to run 1 new 3 core cable to the spot lights but cut the old cables before discovering that it had a red mark on one of the black wires so not sure which cable this came from!

If I connect the reds to the light positive they come on with the switch off and blow the supply when turned off, have tried othe rcombinations but no joy - any ideas before I totally dispair?

Thanks for any help

 

[davy_owen_88]

Neither of the reds you have should be connected to the live terminal of the light. One of the black conductors is the switched live and one is the neutral. Put both reds in one terminal, the blacks in separate terminals and the earths together.

Then take another length of cable to the light. Connecting live to one of the blacks and the neutral to another black.

Do you have a multimeter? Does the fitting have BC or ES connections? If BC you don't need to worry about polarity, if ES you need to make sure you are connecting the neutral to the threaded section so test the voltage of both blacks and the one with 240V when the switch is on is the live and should be labelled with red tape/sleeving and should be connected to the correct terminal on the light.

 

[ricicle]

You will need to test the blacks to earth to ascertain which one is the live.The black which has 240V to earth when the switch is on is the switched live.As you are working with old colours then identify this wire with red tape/sleeving