Mend > Lighting

How do i fit a fluorescent strip light?

Hi guys,

Basically my set up is, 3 wires coming out of the ceiling, each wire has its own blue, brown and pure copper core (no flex), i assume these are neutral, live and earth.

Also 2 of the brown wires are connected into one of those grey electrical connectors/joiners with the pins to screw the wire down in place.

Basically the old light that was there is identical but was taken down without me having the chance to look at it properly to see what goes where, so now im a bit stuck. Ive tried putting the 3 neutrals in the neutral terminal on the light and the 3 earths in the earth terminal, with the one remaining live wire in the live terminal, but the light still wont work, however the lights behind it in the circuit (i assume it to be setup like a loop in circuit) now work where as before when the wires were not connected up to anything, none of those lights would turn on.

Anyone who can give me a hand here i would be truely greatful, heres a diagram i drew the best i could, there were a few more wires within the light itself running between the connectors and various components inside but i cant remember the exacts of them so left them out.

Diagram >>> http://i41.tinypic.com/i1i691.jpg

Scotty E
June 2009

D.I.Y, Lighting Light Wires Coming

Worked a treat, just as said, except didnt need the 4 way terminal box, jus had:

switched live (blue) -> live terminal on light,
remaining 2 neutrals (blue) -> neutral terminal on light,
all grounds (bare core) -> ground terminal on light,
all lives (brown) -> in a seperate connector away from the light, together.

Scotty E
June 2009

Thanks so much for the help, LIFESAVER!

Scotty E
June 2009

The three Brown wires are Live and should all join together and to nothing else i.e. they do not connect to your new light...

One of the Browns is live coming in (it has an associated Blue neutral) Another Brown is Live to the next fitting in the house aslo with an associated Neutral. And now it gets interesting...

The third Brown runs off to the light switch and it has an associated Blue coloured wire which is NOT neutral - it's Switched Live and needs to join somehow with the Live connector on the new fluorescent tube - so you can turn it on and off.

The first thing you must do is identify Switched Live else you'll be tempted to join it with Neutral wires and constantly blow fuses - Get a mains tester screwdriver to do this.

Then you need a 4 way terminal box in the ceiling void.
All the earths in one terminal. All the Live wires in another. Switched live on its own. and two Blue neutrals together. Then run a short length of cable from the Terminal Box to the new fitting - Earth to E / Switched Live to L / Neutral to N. Robert est votre oncle!

Because of the special nature of Switched Live it should carry a Brown Sleeve to identify it - look inside the switch housing and observe the sleeve.

Here's a drawing of a ceiling rose that gives the general idea - for clarity it does not show the feed-out cable but you can easily see where it would connect...

http://www.secelecuk.com/resources/ceiling+rose.jpg

Good luck...take care...

Peccavi
June 2009