I'm fitting new lights to the kitchen ceiling. The first one just had the 3 standard UK wires (black, green, red), so was relatively easy to work out. The second, however, has 3 black, 4 red and 3 green, so won't fit to the tiny holes provided in the new fitting. I don't want to take a gamble and guess, so am stuck. The new fitting has a plastic box with 6 connection areas, 3 of which are already taken up by 1 wire of each colour. I'd appreciate your feedback.

Mick, March 2009

mick
I forgot the 4th red wire, this should be on its own and will probably need to be bunched with the reds that feed the lightswitch. rather than the special black and the red to the other fitting. its probaly the feed to another light in the porch or loo or somewhere

kennyf, April 2009

Mick
This is your "master" fitting if you like. It contains the cable in from the system (red black green or brown blue green/yellow) it has the cable out to your other fitting - the three you mentioned in your mail and it contains the cable to your lightswitch.
in order to hide these you are going to have to either open a slightly bigger hole in the ceiling which you hide behing the new fitting or fit a ceiling patress and mount your new fitting to this, it should be made for a patress and its the preferred method as its the approved system.
Now. The cable to the lightswitch will be red to red with the cable coming in from the system and you join these together into the same terminus on the patress. the black coming back from the lightswitch is called the switch/live and it should be marked with a bit of red tape to indicate that it is special and most importantly LIVE when the switch is on. this is connected to the red wire going to the other fitting and also to the brown wire on the new fitting you are putting up in this spot.
The other black wires are all put together and connected to the blue wire on your new fitting, this is the neutral, these wires should include the wire coming from the system and the wire going out to your other light but (obviously), not the special black switch/live we put the red tape on. then put all the greens and the green/yellow on your new fitting together. Mount the patress to the ceiling being careful not to damage the cables and then mount your new fitting to it. If you got the right patress then you will not see it when the new fitting is fitted. ask in your local electrical wholesalers tell them what youre doing and theyll help you out. Even sparkeys ask silly questions from time to time so dont expect them to be surprised at the wholesalers if you are not fluent in the lingo. ALL electrical DIY and repair work must be done with the circuit fuse out. If I can I usuallt kill the entire board, no nasty surprises that way. if you are at all unsure call in a sparks the wholesaler knows who the decent guys are, its better than frying yourself or using the house as a pyrotechnics display

kennyf, March 2009