toilet ceiling light

Lynda@972 · Mar 21, 2020

Hi,
I am trying to change my toilet ceiling light, the old one is just a standard light fitting...but has six wires 2 red, 2 black, 2 earth...

My new fitting only has 3 fitting holes

I tried fitting the new one...putting the same wires together in each hole...the light came on but the switch was in off position when i turn it on the tripped the lecky...any ideas where i put all these wires in three holes...

westward10 · Mar 21, 2020

The two reds need connecting together and kept separate, do not connect to new light. The black which was connected to the brown at the old light to L, the black connected to the blue at the old light to N and the earths to the middle terminal.

Julie. · Mar 21, 2020

If you still had the original connections as per your first photograph, you would have needed to replace the 2 wire white flex containing the blue and brown with a short length of 3 core flex, the brown and blue of which should be connected in the exact terminals as the original, and the green/yellow into the bare screw terminal with the green/yellow sleeving on the wire; the other end of this flex should go to your new fitting, Brown to L (Live/Line), Blue to N (Neutral), and green/yellow to E (Earth).

Unfortunately, now you have removed these connections, this is no longer possible and you would need to re-create the above:
The two red wires would need to be connected together (and to nothing else other than a connector/terminal block)
The two CPC ( the bare un-insulated wires in the middle of the cable) need to be connected together and also connected to the E (Earth) terminal on your new fitting.

One of the black wires would be the neutral wire and needs to be connected to the N (neutral) terminal on your new fitting.
The other black wires would be the Switched line wire and needs to be connected to the L (Live/Line) terminal on your new fitting.

The polarity of these last two is going to be quite important, but now they have been disconnected it is impossible to tell which one is which without a sequence of dead/live tests.

I recommend you now get an electrician to fix this for you as it is beyond simple DIY to identify the correct connections

westward10 · Mar 21, 2020

Can you show a pic of the wires as they are now as the neutral does appear to be a single conductor.

Lynda@972 · Mar 21, 2020

Julie. said:
If you still had the original connections as per your first photograph, you would have needed to replace the 2 wire white flex containing the blue and brown with a short length of 3 core flex, the brown and blue of which should be connected in the exact terminals as the original, and the green/yellow into the bare screw terminal with the green/yellow sleeving on the wire; the other end of this flex should go to your new fitting, Brown to L (Live/Line), Blue to N (Neutral), and green/yellow to E (Earth).

Unfortunately, now you have removed these connections, this is no longer possible and you would need to re-create the above:
The two red wires would need to be connected together (and to nothing else other than a connector/terminal block)
The two CPC ( the bare un-insulated wires in the middle of the cable) need to be connected together and also connected to the E (Earth) terminal on your new fitting.

One of the black wires would be the neutral wire and needs to be connected to the N (neutral) terminal on your new fitting.
The other black wires would be the Switched line wire and needs to be connected to the L (Live/Line) terminal on your new fitting.

The polarity of these last two is going to be quite important, but now they have been disconnected it is impossible to tell which one is which without a sequence of dead/live tests.

I recommend you now get an electrician to fix this for you as it is beyond simple DIY to identify the correct connections

I have put the old light back in and it works fine....i am waiting on an electrician coming Tuesday to fit new light as i dont have a dead/live testing tool...Thanks for your help...

Pete999 · Mar 21, 2020

Lynda@972 said:
I have put the old light back in and it works fine....i am waiting on an electrician coming Tuesday to fit new light as i dont have a dead/live testing tool...Thanks for your help...

Good for you