Please explain this ceiling wiring to me?

[gizmo1990]

Thought I'd post this here as I'll hopefully stand a better chance of a reply. I know it's to do with a foreign setup but any advice would be better than none, even best guesses!

I'm staying in a friends Norwegian flat and I'd like to put up some lights for them. Unfortunately each ceiling outlet has a massive jumble of wires coming out of it! I've never seen such a mess and they are preventing me from attaching ceiling roses properly.

If anyone has any experience of Norway or Scandinavia in general, you will know that it is INSANELY expensive so I really would like to fix this myself!

So what I'd like to do is trim all the wires back and make them much neater. Probably bind some insulation tape around them too as they've got that really old woven type material surrounding them.

Before I do that though I'd really like to understand the mess of wire coming out the ceiling!? What exactly do they all do!? Basically there are 8 wires in total and they seem to be broken into 2 groups. 3 wires come out into a junction box and then 1 wire out the other end. This is then repeated in another group. Only this time without the junction box and just taped together!

Here's a photo I took along with a diagram where I hope I've explained it better.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Advice?

Expensive or no, get an electrician. Or leave it for your friend to sort out.

1. You have no idea what the laws are in Norway.
   
2. You have no idea what the regulations are in Norway.
   
3. You have no idea how lighting circuits are wired in Norway.
   
4. You have no means of working out what all the wires do - if you had the basic knowledge and the right tools you could work it out for yourself.
   
5. If the insulation is crumbling then sticky tape is not the answer - replacing the cables is the only answer, and fiddling with them could well make things suddenly and catastrophically worse.

Put the ceiling roses back and stop meddling.

 

[maguire]

BAS is right this is a complete mess and requires a pro if it were here in the uk and I was involved I'd have the power of pronto, if thats just one example what the rest of the place like, Jeez I'v seen scary before and thats in the same catagorie
DM

 

[Steve]

Ah so thats why IKEA sell ceiling lights that hang on a hook! That they dont supply!!!

 

[gizmo1990]

Appreciate the replies.

I'll leave it be then. Mates can't afford an electrician, and certainly not one that's going to rewire the entire place!

For the record I was only intending on making the wires shorter and cleaning them up a bit.

 

[Spark123]

They look like VIR (Vulcanised Indian Rubber) cables. If it was in the UK I'd be recommending a rewire! Not sure when they stopped using it on the continent.

 

[aptsys]

Despite the mess, it should be pretty obvious from the photo what the wires do/are for. If are having to come here to ask what's what, then I'd advise you leave alone.