Which wire is live and which is neutral?

[Tom888]

The thing is, the earth (yellow/green) in the ceiling does not have a slot available to connect anything to. One of the two slots has the earth connection while the other end seems to be a red cabled wire connected to it. No free slot. Does this mean the earth connection on the fan/light can be left empty?

The pendant was connected to the ceiling. The plate for the new one has been connected to the ceiling (not beam) with plugs and screws. It’s seems to be very firm. The fan/light itself isn’t that heavy. I know they are normally quite heavy, but this one seems to be on the light side. Even the longer screw does not go up the beam (or wood above the ceiling board). There is a considerable gap (air) between the ceiling board and the wooden board above it. Nonetheless, the plate of the new fixture is very firmly in place. It does not move at all from pushing or pulling it.

Essentially, is it going to be like for like. The old pendant one works with just the live and neutral connections to the ceiling. So, will the new fan/light fixture only require live and neutral as well? This would mean no direct earth connection to the new fixture.

 

[ETAF]

Slots??? are they not connector blocks - i didnt see a red wire connected to the earths ??? in the shot you gave, can you post again

Earth, yes it should be earthed

i would not trust a fan spinning and any vibration on a bit of ceiling board - although i guess with the right connectors / plugs it maybe Ok

 

[Tom888]

Slots??? are they not connector blocks - i didnt see a red wire connected to the earths ??? in the shot you gave, can you post again

Earth, yes it should be earthed

i would not trust a fan spinning and any vibration on a bit of ceiling board - although i guess with the right connectors / plugs it maybe Ok

Yes, connector blocks. The earth one you saw from the ceiling has both connectors on the block already occupied. I pulled it out a bit from the ceiling and what I see is the earth wire going into it at one end and a red one at the other.

 

[ETAF]

that maybe a problem , although electric does not know what colour wire is and its up to the installation to use the guidance standard - then a red wire connected to the earths would need investigating , maybe a photo would help - maybe thats NOT an earth at all , but used for something else and miss sleeved

 

[Tom888]

Here is a pic of the earth wire. You can see one end is the green and yellow and at the other end is a brown cable (sorry not red as I had mistakenly stated earlier). In any case, both ends of the connector block are occupied.

 

[Tom888]

And here is a clear pic of all the wires in the ceiling together. The blue and the brown wires at the bottom of the pic belong to the light pendant.

Do I simply connect it as the old pendant is currently i.e. just the live and neutral?

Should I try and see by connecting just the live and neutral? It’s not going to damage the electrics of the house is it?

 

[ETAF]

Do I simply connect it as the old pendant is currently i.e. just the live and neutral?

yes, to use the switch to provide the power

But it does need an earth , for safety - and that Red wire connected to the earth leads ,needs investigating as to why its connected to earth and what it actually does

 

[Echo the husky]

As above. I'd recommend stopping at this point and calling an electrician to investigate the wiring properly. The red wire connected to the earth terminal is a real concern.

 

[Tom888]

It’s actually brown (not red) connected to the earth, but that’s probably not the point. So you don’t recommend I connect the new fixture (exactly as the old pendant)? I reconnected the old pendant back with live and neutral and it works fine.

I decided to hold off from connecting the new fixture for now as I wanted confirmation that it will be fine connecting it like the pendant

 

[pete01]

Can you not work out where the single brown goes? is there a metal box in the ceiling and they've just used what the had(brown wire) maybe?