Which wire is live and which is neutral?

[Tom888]

Hi everyone, I need some help fitting a new fan/light fixture to the ceiling. The fixture requires a live and neutral connection. In the ceiling where I currently have a standard light pendant connected, the wires available are the following. There is a black wire, there is a brown wire (but it seems to have previously been black but now has a short piece of brown cabling attached to it) and there is also a red wire which has been taped. There is also an earth connection (already connected to something, so isn’t available).

My question is this, is the black neutral and the new brown cable, live? If I connected these to their respective slots on the new light-fan fixture, will it work?

 

[pete01]

The loop stays in the connector block as it is and don’t forget the earth.

 

[ETAF]

posted at same time as pete01

loop in Live and neutral and earth from some other light fixing or CU

then the next wire is
Live down to switch and live back from switch - Black with the brown sleeving on

then the black with no sleeving is the neutral

SO how will the new light fitting work - WILL it be controlled by the light switch at all

does it have a fan and also lights - the ones i have fitted - had a pull cable for the lights and also the fan - but you could wire so the lights operate from the light switch - can you show a photo of the FAN/Light connections

Also how is the beam above the cables - ceiling board - a fan will need a good fixing onto the beam and not just onto the ceiling board

 

[Tom888]

The loop stays in the connector block as it is and don’t forget the earth.

View attachment 412692

Thanks guys for the quick response. I just connect the cable you labelled L to the live slot on the new fan/light and the N to the neutral slot. Is this right? I am not a complete novice with electrics but want to make sure from others who are electricians or have a lot of experience with electrics.

 

[ETAF]

as mentioned show the connections on the fan/light - often they have lights as a separate comnneciton so it can be switched from the light switch same for fan

 

[Tom888]

I’ll put up a pic of the connections for the new light/fan a little later

 

[Tom888]

Here is a pic of the connections on the new fixture. According to the instructions supplied with it, I think it requires a live, neutral and earth connection.

The only problems is, the earth connection (the yellow and green multi coloured) in the ceiling seem to be tied up. It’s maybe connected to something else. I am not fully sure as I didn't try to move this wire around)

Pic 2 is the instruction diagram

Pic 3 are the other connections on the fan/light to give a complete overview of all connections.

 

[ETAF]

how will it be switched on/off does it have pull cords or remote

 

[Tom888]

Do I need to connect earth to the fan/light fixture or just live and neutral? Are all three required?

 

[Tom888]

how will it be switched on/off does it have pull cords or remote

I imagine the wall switch. There is a supplied remote with it as well. The remote has an on off switch as well as well as controls for fan speed and light brightness

 

[ETAF]

I imagine the wall switch

Depends on how you want it to run , can be connected to the live and be ON all the time and controlled from the remote OR only work if the light switch is operated - although when light switch is on - i guess you will be able to just turn off from the remote control

So LIVE to the loop Or the black with brown sleeving , personally i would prefer a physical switch to switch OFF completely

yes Earth will be needed as it actually has a wire on the earth and not just connected to the metal work, i guess needed for the motor

 

[Tom888]

Here is a pic of the entire electronics inside the fixture. By the way, the current light is a standard pendant. Only the live and neutral were connected to it.

 

[ETAF]

thats normal - but usually it has a connector behind -

https://electriciancourses4u.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/lighting-example-1.png

 

[Tom888]

Depends on how you want it to run , can be connected to the live and be ON all the time and controlled from the remote OR only work if the light switch is operated - although when light switch is on - i guess you will be able to just turn off from the remote control

So LIVE to the loop Or the black with brown sleeving , personally i would prefer a physical switch to switch OFF completely

yes Earth will be needed as it actually has a wire on the earth and not just connected to the metal work, i guess needed for the motor

I think it will be better if the wall switch needs to be on before the remote is used. I want to obviously be able to on and off using the remote. But it should be on at the wall first. If the wall is off, it shouldn’t be turned on with just remote. If this is the case, do I need to connect all three (live, neutral and earth)?

 

[ETAF]

Yes ,
Live to the Black brown wire -
Neutral to the black wire
Earth to yellow/green sleeved wire

And fixed onto a beam NOT just the ceiling board - so how was the pendant fixed to ceiling ?

You could box up those connectors into the ceiling void and run a 3 way cable down to the fitting -