The Poolie Bunker

I've just been round my sister and her partner has been trying to fit a new ceiling light. He's very stuck and its a bit beyond me to be honest.

At the moment there are four cables hanging out of the ceiling each with a red/black/earth. I've identified which is the switch cable. I tried connecting the remaining cables together and wiring up the light but the fuse blew.

I need some instructions.

point a gun at her and tell her to whip 'em off. Piece of piss.

There a four cables coming out of the ceiling each with three wires: red/black/earth.

The earths are obvious so we'll leave them out. I'm left with four reds and four blacks (first person who says 32 points get the Kalashnikov !!)

I think I know which was is switch as I put a voltimeter across the red and black of each set and only got a reading from one pair. The power is off obviously.


Which Kalashnikov do you want to strip down?

Helps a lot but not entirely, I got a reading on the volt scale with the power off and by power off I mean mains off

After I identify what is what, what do I connect where?

i would too ive seen the way OSP has his boiler wired up

I had assumed that with the mains switched off there would be no power going anywhere.


DB / CCT?

Definitely only one board. If by DB you mean the fuse box.

Second thought.... he tried wiring it up early and kept blowing a fuse on the same board so that must be where the powers coming from, also when thats switched off there is no electricity anywhere in the house.

It's the volts that jolt, or is it the mils?

theres been an explosion in Nottingham i can see the headlines now on News at Ten. Get your AK47 ready for the ragheads

Aah, cross purposes. I took the individual red and black wires and put the red and black terminals probes from the voltimeter on them. The theory being that if I could make a circuit then it was the switch cable. I never said I got 240v I said I got a reading.

knock all the power off get a torch, tape all wires up and get a sparky in tomorrow mate

nominal voltage is 230v,

-6% or +10% were in europe now!

Be careful Mr I, you do want to be at the match on Saturday







don't you ??

I know what to do now, cheers lads.

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/lights_and_switches.htm

Just in case you've not solved it yet.

you don't have relatives in ormesby by any chance Mr I?

just that tonite i visited a guy who had serious problem with his electric, he had tried getting help from, the police, royal signals, NTL, BT, essex university all could not help so he rang our firm,,

he was gettin electric in his house, especially when he was in bed....
he knew where it was comin from, coz he had the same problem before he moved last year,he had moved 5 miles from the original problem, but it followed him.......

You see he receives burns to his chest, arms , legs from electric, it attacks his eyes and ears at night, drying them out making it impossible to open his eyes!

at the rear of his last property a neighbour was using a very large transformer off the mains, to power a laser which they programmed through a computer, to attack him!
He moved to get away from it, but it followed him, they also use the computer to send him nightmares when he is asleep, last night he dream't his wardrobe was on fire.
Since he moved the guy who was doing it has died, but has obviously left instructions with his widow on how to use these weapons of destruction, and she is worse, coz now she watches throught the tv and just after he finishes his meals, she fires the laser at his stomach causing extreme burning and pain right up to his throat which can only be cured by drinking milk!

she also grinds a plate of metal and sends the sound via ultrasound to give him not one but 4 migraines at a time, he showed me what he had done to combat this dreadful situation, he had taken an extension lead and then, cut a hole in his matteress and conected the extension to the springs, thereby inducing a voltage (nominal230), into the springs which acts as a forcefield.......

I tested the incoming supply and to my surprise found it "normal", so I suggested to the gent that maybe he ought to try the americans at menwith hill harrogate coz they were real good at find stuff like this out, he thanked me for my help, and information, I also left him with a job number and the call centres number and told him not to hessitate calling us at any time day or night coz we is 24hr service! and i left drove around the corner and pissed myself laughing!

any relation Mr I

Cheers HL.

With this combined wisdom above I reckon I have the following:

one cable going to the switch both of which are live wires.
One cable coming in from the loop and one going out to the next light.
One cable going to a wall light which has been disconnected.

I need to establish for sure which is the switch cable, I'll do this by putting the probes of the voltimeter (on ohms setting) across the red and black of each and then flicking the wall switch to see if I get a reading that comes and goes with the switching of the light.

Once thats established I'll then do away with the obsolete wall light cable by taking the three remaining cables and joining the individual red and black at the ceiling rose in turn and putting the probes on the connector block at the wall light to check which wires give a reading.

That'll leave me with three sets of wires: a switch, then the other two are obviously the in and out from the loop.

Fit the two loop lives into the central block of the rose fitting and the two neutral wires into the nuetral block or the rose. That just leaves me the two switch wires. One into the loop block and the other into the remaining block of the rose.

I reckon that should do it.

No idea on that fella but I do know an even crazier bloke who thinks hes a horse. Imagine that eh

neigh, neigh! does he!

No fires, worked a treat. The trick was to establish the obsolete wire and when that was done the job was easy.

I also established that the reason he kepy blowing fuses was that the wall light end of the wires were twisted together so no matter where you put the ceiling end it was gonna blow.

Thanks all.