Please help a dumbass

[JSR]

Ok ok (flame suit on) i have just bought my first house and went gung ho at changing a light fitting, removed the old one without looking at which wires went where as my new fitting came with a lovely diagram of new and old wire types so thought that'd do it.

Now as you can imagine i am new at this and have learnt a valuable lesson. I do not have a mutimeter.

So here goes:

2 x Black (Neutral)
2x Red (Live) or switched live
2x Green/yellow (earth)

Now when ever i connect the light and turn the switch on the circuit trips.

Have tried the following combo's (into a junction box)

2 x red together 2 x black together 2x green together

1 x red (a) 2 x black together 2x green together and red (b) in the loop termination block

1 x red (b) 2 x black together 2x green together and red (a) in the loop termination block

And its stil all fusing - my lovely fiance is being very understanding (at the moment lol) and i don't want that to chage so as much help as possible would be great and yes i know i should have looked BEFORE disconnecting (i have since learnt that)

Thanks in advance

 

[flameport]

Both green/yellow together (earth)
Both reds together in a separate block (live)

The two black ones are switched live and neutral - these are what connects to the light.

If the light fitting has an earth connection, this must be connected to the two green/yellow wires.

 

[JSR]

Thanks for the reply - so the two reds in the one hole in the junction box just not connecting to anything on the other side of it, is that correct? If so then you just saved my bacon

The fitting has:

Brown - Live
Blue - Neutral
Earth

So we are saying two blacks to the brown
Earth to earth
both reds to blue?

 

[Spark123]

//www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:blackswlive

 

[ColJack]

no..
both reds to nothing but each other.
1 black to the brown
1 black to the blue
both earths to the earth..

 

[JSR]

Ok cool - worst case scenario if the live and switched live get mixed up is that the switch does not work until iswap them over right? Or the MCB trips?

 

[Spark123]

You shouldn't get live and switch live mixed up.
You may get the switch live and neutral mixed up which could be an issue if you have ES lamp holders.
If you follow the guide I posted above you should be able to ID which is which anyway.

 

[ColJack]

you can't get the switched live and live mixed up..
the lives are all red, the switched lives is one of the blacks..
and it doesn't matter which way round the switched live and neutral go unless you have a screw in type bulb holder.

 

[JSR]

I'll be back - fingers crossed!

 

[Spark123]

and it doesn't matter which way round the switched live and neutral go unless you have a screw in type bulb holder.

Yes it does, it might not matter to the workings but it does for identification purposes and fault finding.

 

[JSR]

Lol - ok well its not tripping out - however the light isn't coming on - would this mean that i got them the wrong way around - and yes its on at the MCB.

 

[Spark123]

You could quite easily have blown the switch by connecting L&N across it and shorting it out.

 

[JSR]

I don't think i did as when the switch was "clicked" with the wrong config it was still tripping out in my fuse box. However if it is blown then what are the consequences?

So if we leave that to one side for the second - is there any other reason why the light wouldn't be coming on - could it work if i switch the two blacks over?

 

[Spark123]

If it is blown then the consequence is it doesn't work.
The black which should be sleeved red is in the L, and the other black in the N then that is correct.

 

[ColJack]

what light are you trying to fit?
if it's a regular pendant lamp then the bulb itself may be blown.