New light wont switch off.
Discussion
I've just replaced the plastic pendant fitting for my landing light - and amazingly it works!
But it doesn't switch off.
What might I have done wrong?
Unusually - I have a double light switch downstairs (for hall and landing), but a single one upstairs. (I've not changed the switches)
In the pendant, I wired up the blue and brown from the light flex into the outside slots of the pendant, the 3 red ones in the middle, and the blacks went between the reds and the blue/brown. There were two blacks on one side, but only one for the other. I actually copied another light that works.
Thanks.
But it doesn't switch off.
What might I have done wrong?
Unusually - I have a double light switch downstairs (for hall and landing), but a single one upstairs. (I've not changed the switches)
In the pendant, I wired up the blue and brown from the light flex into the outside slots of the pendant, the 3 red ones in the middle, and the blacks went between the reds and the blue/brown. There were two blacks on one side, but only one for the other. I actually copied another light that works.
Thanks.
Have you replaced the original rose and pendant for the same type with the same wiring connections, is that a picture of the new rose back plate that you have put up?
It looks to be wired right but the three blacks need identifying, one is a switched live coming from the landing switch and the other two will be neutrals, connected to the blue.
Do the other lights on that floor work ok, and you say the lamp lights are you sure its at full brightness and not dimmer with another light on as well. Usually if its wired wrong though as soon as the switch is pressed the fuse blows or breaker trips.
It looks to be wired right but the three blacks need identifying, one is a switched live coming from the landing switch and the other two will be neutrals, connected to the blue.
Do the other lights on that floor work ok, and you say the lamp lights are you sure its at full brightness and not dimmer with another light on as well. Usually if its wired wrong though as soon as the switch is pressed the fuse blows or breaker trips.
vdp1 said:
Have you replaced the original rose and pendant for the same type with the same wiring connections, is that a picture of the new rose back plate that you have put up?
It looks to be wired right but the three blacks need identifying, one is a switched live coming from the landing switch and the other two will be neutrals, connected to the blue.
Do the other lights on that floor work ok, and you say the lamp lights are you sure its at full brightness and not dimmer with another light on as well. Usually if its wired wrong though as soon as the switch is pressed the fuse blows or breaker trips.
I replaced the backplate too. Compared with the one I took off, it was different in that the space for 2 blacks was on the other side. I suspect I've mixed the blacks up then.It looks to be wired right but the three blacks need identifying, one is a switched live coming from the landing switch and the other two will be neutrals, connected to the blue.
Do the other lights on that floor work ok, and you say the lamp lights are you sure its at full brightness and not dimmer with another light on as well. Usually if its wired wrong though as soon as the switch is pressed the fuse blows or breaker trips.
The bedroom lights work but the bathroom one doesn't. The breaker didn't trip though.
UnderTheRadar said:
Lighting roses are usually wired in a ring. So in a rose there will be permanantly live lives as well as the switched live - I wonder if they become mixed? You can buy a meter from Maplin for £10 to find the switched live. Or you can experiment at your own peril 
I'll take the third option - find a mate that knows what he's doing.Thanks for the help though everyone. I think the answer has been provided - I mixed up the black wires. At least I'm one step nearer to understanding simple electrics, which I wouldn't have been if I'd not even tried ......... but I now have a rather dark bathroom and landing.
My dad, bless him, did this when rewiring the lights in our huse in the 1980's. It was still messed up when we moved 20 years later.
To turn the bathroom light on, you had to turn on a switch at the bottom of the stairs, which seemd to have no affect but then you could switch on the batroom light upstairs. If you got the one downstairs wrong, the bathroom light switch had no affect, the light was either on or off. We never could work out what was wrong, logically. Wonde rif the new owners sorted it out?
Miss you dad.
To turn the bathroom light on, you had to turn on a switch at the bottom of the stairs, which seemd to have no affect but then you could switch on the batroom light upstairs. If you got the one downstairs wrong, the bathroom light switch had no affect, the light was either on or off. We never could work out what was wrong, logically. Wonde rif the new owners sorted it out?
Miss you dad.
Solitude said:
youve got a live in the switch line side.......end of
A permanent live from a black wire? Obviously, as the poster above highlights, with house wiring particularly that involving 2 way switching, anything is possible. But there look to be the right number of wires in the expected colours (I've rarely seen a switched live with red tape added) in the ceiling rose.I note he says the bathroom light doesn't work and I wonder if it's picking up a live through the neutral back from the bathroom light - hence my question whether the bathroom light switch does anything. If that's the case then he's reversed the switched live and the neutral to the bathroom.
The only way this can be wired is if the feed neutral, i.e. the one coming from the previous fitting or the mains unit is reversed with the black coming back from the landing switch i.e. the switched live, and the bathroom light must be the last on the loop.
This is the only scenario which wouldn't blow the mcb when the landing switch was operated. If both the bathroom light and the landing light were the same wattage then both would light half as bright as normal when the bathroom switch was operated, however I suspect the bathroom lights have a higher wattage, downlights maybe thus allowing the landing light to reach full brightness. This should still go out though if the bathroom switch is turned off.
If both lamps were of equal wattage and both on dimly then operating the landing switch would switch the landing to full brightness and the bathroom would go out.
Anyway to cut a long story short, if you haven't done so already swap the black on its own with one of the blacks on the other side, you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right.
This is the only scenario which wouldn't blow the mcb when the landing switch was operated. If both the bathroom light and the landing light were the same wattage then both would light half as bright as normal when the bathroom switch was operated, however I suspect the bathroom lights have a higher wattage, downlights maybe thus allowing the landing light to reach full brightness. This should still go out though if the bathroom switch is turned off.
If both lamps were of equal wattage and both on dimly then operating the landing switch would switch the landing to full brightness and the bathroom would go out.
Anyway to cut a long story short, if you haven't done so already swap the black on its own with one of the blacks on the other side, you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right.
vdp1 said:
The only way this can be wired is if the feed neutral, i.e. the one coming from the previous fitting or the mains unit is reversed with the black coming back from the landing switch i.e. the switched live, and the bathroom light must be the last on the loop.
This is the only scenario which wouldn't blow the mcb when the landing switch was operated. If both the bathroom light and the landing light were the same wattage then both would light half as bright as normal when the bathroom switch was operated, however I suspect the bathroom lights have a higher wattage, downlights maybe thus allowing the landing light to reach full brightness. This should still go out though if the bathroom switch is turned off.
If both lamps were of equal wattage and both on dimly then operating the landing switch would switch the landing to full brightness and the bathroom would go out.
Anyway to cut a long story short, if you haven't done so already swap the black on its own with one of the blacks on the other side, you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right.
A mate fixed it for me. If I understand correctly he did the final thing on this post. And yes, the bathroom light was at the end of the loop.This is the only scenario which wouldn't blow the mcb when the landing switch was operated. If both the bathroom light and the landing light were the same wattage then both would light half as bright as normal when the bathroom switch was operated, however I suspect the bathroom lights have a higher wattage, downlights maybe thus allowing the landing light to reach full brightness. This should still go out though if the bathroom switch is turned off.
If both lamps were of equal wattage and both on dimly then operating the landing switch would switch the landing to full brightness and the bathroom would go out.
Anyway to cut a long story short, if you haven't done so already swap the black on its own with one of the blacks on the other side, you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right.
For an earlier poster - I'm not sure whether switching the bathroom light on and off would've affected the landing light, I only realised the bathroom light didn't work after disconnecting the mess I'd made of the landing light.
Thanks again folks.
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