i bought a spotlight with 4 halogen lamps on it.i took the old fitting down but am left with 3 mains cabels.so ive got 3 green/yellow,3 blue and 3 brown.my fitment just has 3 slots,1 for each colour.do i just twist all the yellow together,all the blue together and all brown together cos i did that and it tripped the fuse box

rachael, September 2009

Someone has used a wrong cable or not marked a switchwire with a brown wire. One pair of wires goes to the switch and should have 2 brown cores and an earth. Alternatively, a brown/blue pair could be used with a brown sleeve/marker on the blue to indicate switchwire. If you cannot identify this yourself, best call a professional. Moral of the story - mark/identify the connections before you disconnect the old light.

AndyJ, September 2009

I forgot to say... You don't have too many wires - you have the right amount - what you have is not enough connectors - you need four.

Earth
Permanent Live
Neutral
Switched Live (to turn the lamps on and off)

Your electrician will show you how to achieve this.

Good luck...

P, September 2009

You may do best to call an electrician...

The ceiling rose would have looked like this...

http://www.flameport.com/electric/lighting_circuits/lighting_ceiling_rose_looped.cs4

You do not connect permanent live to the lamps - just switched live - switched live often comes back from the switch on a BLUE wire (with a sleeve on it).

By twisting all the Blue wires together you have directly connected Live to Neutral with no lamp as a load - the fuse/breaker will complain about this whenever the light switch is on - when the switch is off the lamps will work until you turn them on - then they'll all go off.

Remember Lord Finchley and take care...

Lord Finchley tried to mend the Electric Light
Himself. It struck him dead: And serve him right!
It is the business of the wealthy man
To give employment to the artisan.

Peccavi, September 2009