replacing a light bulb holder - is this right?

[Lusi83]

Mr Bodge-it lived in my house before me -so just wondering if this is safe/best way of doing this before I continue...

I want to replace a light which is basically a bulb holder with a covered bulkhead type - it is low down in a cupboard and I have always been worried someone will bash their head on it and break the bulb...

The feed goes through the buld holder to the switch (one cable from feed to bulbholder and another cable to the switch.)

When I took the bulb holder off it is basic with just 2 terminals - I found that the neutral wire (black) is joined with one of twist wire together screw type things and the live (red) is attached to the terminals (ie feed to bulb holder and wire to switch) - switch has red to common terminal and black to one of the lower terminals
Thought diagram might be useful...

Untitled

• Lusi83
• 17 Apr 2012
• 1

New lightfitting also only has two terminals (and not sure if there will be room for the joining thing or a bit of choc box ... )

Can't reposition the switch or the light fitting...ideally would like not to have to replace the cable (but I could -have easy access to the junction box it is fed from) ...

So was this done in the correct way? Is there a better way?

 

[Adam_151]

No, you have got a switched neutral there!.

What you should do is join the two reds in a piece of connector block (this is your unswitched live or loop), then black from the feed cable goes to neutral on your fitting (this is your neutral) and the black from the switch gets sleeved/taped red and goes to the live of the fitting (this is the switched live)

twist wire together screw type things

Thats normally known as a 'scru-it' after a famous brand of them, also called dog cocks by some. Amercicians know them as wire nuts and still use them, whereas they have fallen out of favor this side of the pond

 

[Taylortwocities]

Thats normally known as a 'scru-it' after a famous brand of them, also called dog cocks by some. Amercicians know them as wire nuts and still use them, whereas they have fallen out of favor this side of the pond

Replaced by those lovely Wago connectors

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I found that the neutral wire (black) is joined with one of twist wire together screw type things and the live (red) is attached to the terminals

Did you find that by testing the conductors to see which was live and which was neutral, or are you just assuming that black is neutral and red is live?

 

[Lusi83]

And the switch will still be right - with the red in the common....?

I get a bit confused with switched live and switched neutral but kind of thought that seemed wrong...

I better double check it at the junction box knowing Mr Bodge it - the red wire might be connected to the neutral and the black to the live!

had a ceiling light where the flex was starting to come out of the rose when I looked at it he hadn't bothered to hook the wires around the gripper things so it was hanging on the terminals (hence it falling down) - and he had attached the blue to the red and the brown to the black!

 

[Lusi83]

Cross -post
Junction box is straight from consumer unit (fitted post Bodge- it by an electrician) so I would assume that is right...
Guess it could have orignally been switched live and the electrician just connected up the new feed brown to red etc -not realising that it was the opposite way round before??? Surely he would have noticed? Would you /could you test something like that?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Don't assume - check with your multimeter which conductor is which.