Connect a ceiling light

E

EVGR

Registered User
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I was trying to connect a ceiling light, a lamp flush with the ceiling. I need to take the current pendant off for this. The new lamp has connections for live, neutral and earth. But from the ceiling there is two brown and one blue. The lamp base is metal, so I suppose I need the earth too. Could anyone please suggest what I should do with the cables coming from the ceiling, as far I can see there is no earh?

Thank you.
 
Most houses wired for pendants dont have an earth wire fitted.

If the light you want to use is metal and has an earth terminal then strictly speaking it should be earthed. However I'll bet 90% of these fitted in this country especially as replacements are not earthed. It will work perfectly fine but in the unlikely event of the metal frame touching the live wire the trip switch may not trip and is a potential shock hazard if touched.
 
Thank you HighFlier. Do you know what I should do with the second brown wire?
 
Both browns should be live feeds. Either it is looped on to another light or there is two way switching i.e. two switches in different locations can turn on or off the light. In any case the two brown wires should both be connected to the live (L) terminal and the blue to the neutral (N) terminal.

Make sure you have the circuit isolated at the fuseboard before you handle the wires as even if the switch is off you can get backfeed on a broken neutral from other lights on the same circuit.
 
And if you touch the browns without isolating at the mains you will be called something like HighFlier . BTW when isolating the power for the downstairs lights, it might also be a good idea to isolate the power for the upstairs ones at the same time. Some sparkys had/have a habit of looping upstairs with downstairs.
 
If you have any doubt about how the house is wired its simpler to turn off the main switch and kill all the power in the house for the few minutes it takes to make the connections.
 

Maybe most of those fitted don't have earths but I would be of the opinion that if you don't have the earth there then get one or else you DO NOT install it
 
EVGR said:
Turn it off completely at the main fuse box right!?
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And double check with a phase tester (screwdriver which detects live wires) - they only cost a couple of € but are well worth it.

As mentioned above multiple brown live wires create a loop to other fittings and switches. If you don't know what you're doing play it safe and leave it to somebody who does. The risk (of electrocution or fire hazard) is simply too high.
 
ClubMan said:
And double check with a phase tester (screwdriver which detects live wires) - they only cost a couple of € but are well worth it.
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A screwdriver phase tester will only work if you are grounded so if you are on a timber step ladder it might not light up....
 
Thank you for all advice. I don't want to be electrocuted, so maybe I'll just buy a lampshade instead.

Why aren't sockets in the ceiling standard here?
 
Is the light downstairs or upstairs. If it's upstairs and the wiring is in the attic there should be no problem locating an earth wire and running an extension to the light point.

The earth wires will be coloured green with a yellow stripe.
 
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