Rail light to exsisting Ceiling Rose

[ch8rt]

I have purchased a set of halogen rail lights and want to connect it in my kitchen where I current jus have a regular ceiling rose and bulb in place.

The problem I have is there appears to be to many wires in the rose to go into the connections supplied with the new fitting. I have 3 red, 3 black and 3 earths. to connect to 1 earth, 1 blue and 1 brown wire. with one spare socket each side of the connector?

Sorry if you don't understand, but if you have any ideas, help would be very appreciated,

thanks.

 

[jtaunton]

That's the right amount of wires, but you need to identify which wire is which. One of the black/red pairs will run from the two reds, down to the switch, and then back up to the rose. The returning wire is what is known as the switched live, and you need to connect between this and the remaining two blacks. If you search through this forum, there are endless threads on the lines of 'I've taken out my old light, wired all the reds together, all the blacks together, and it doesn't work and blows a fuse when I flick the switch' which elaborate on the same scenario, or the For Reference section at the top of the Electrics Forum. You may need to get an additional bit of connector strip to get all the wires into.

You're probably already on top of this (especially as you have brown/blue wires for your new light), but they are 240V lights, aren't they ?

 

[ch8rt]

I have no idea? I don't now much about electrics. Once it gets away from straight replacement, I'm lost.

I've done a bit of searching through the forum and found a couple of illustrations that should help but I'm still unsure how to connect 6 wires (not including earths) to the two I have on the new fitting (again not including earth).

I'm confident of finding out the black switch wire thanks to the diagrams I've found. but I don't know what to do then.

 

[Adam_151]

You connect all the reds together and to nothing else
You connect all the earths to the earth connection on the fitting
You connect the black switch wire to the brown on the new fitting
You connect the other blacks to the blue on the new fitting

You'll most likely have to use a piece of terminal block for all the reds unless you fitting has been designed with provision for the loop-in-wireing system used on lights

 

[jtaunton]

Some new lights come with connector blocks that just aren't suited to loop wiring - Its a fairly common problem.

If your old light is still in place then I would be tempted to purchase a new connector block and then replicate the existing connections using that. Your existing fitting may, for example, have the three red wires going into adjacent holes in the same piece of brass - This is the same as connecting them all in one hole of a connector block.

This thread http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28790 is similar. Only thing that you have to bear in mind is that you will have two supply red and two supply blacks - one of each are the actual supply, one of each are passing the supply on to the next light in the circuit.

 

[ch8rt]

so this is what I will do.

Connect all three red wires together and to nothing else.
Connect all earth wires together and to nothing else.
Connect switch black to to brown on new fitting
Connect other two blacks to Blue on new fitting.

got it.

thanks I try it out tonight and give you the news tomorrow.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

1) Are you aware that Part P of the Building Regulations requires you to notify LABC of this work in advance?

2) Are you aware that Part L of the Building Regulations prohibits you from making things worse regarding the efficient use of energy, so if your old kitchen lighting consumed less than the new one you are on dodgy ground putting it in?

 

[ch8rt]

what kind of dodgey ground.

the kind wear a decent pair of boots will see you through. or the kind that sucks you in?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Probably the kind that a blind man could traverse on a pogo stick....