Hi everyone, i'm wiring my light rose up, but it used to have a fan there, it's quite an old house about hundred years +. When i took the fan down i realised there are 3 diffrent cables coming through. one cable has red,black and an earth and the same for the other, but then theres a 3rd with 2 reds and an earth. The two reds go to the switch, but when it comes to wiring it up it just tripps every time. could someone please help me with this. Thank you.

Jamie, March 2011

in the rose you'll have as you said 2 red and black cables and 1 twin red cable ( going to the switch), take the 2 blacks and connect them to the neutral terminal, generally to the left of the rose(the black one with the blue flex) connect the 3 reds (2 from the red and black cable and one from the 2 red cables) generally in the middle of the rose the other red goes with the brown flex in the rose,on the right of the rose, if it still trips it could be either an earth fault, a live and neutral fault or an earth neutral fault ( common on TT systems, if you touch the neutral and earth together the trip goes down) if it still trips get a spark

gman91, March 2011

thanks mark, i got it working seems the plasters joined 2 wires together downstairs >.< didn't even think to check.

Jamie, March 2011

Hi Jamie
Firstly SWITCH OFF AT THE FUSEBOARD the circuit that controls this before you do anything.!
The two cables that contain a black and a red are feeds to and from the ceiling rose. Those two reds should be connected to each other, and to one of the red wires in the two red (switchwire) and then sealed off.
The two blacks should be connected together and are the neutral connection for your new light. (connect to the blue N terminal/wire on your light)
The one remaining red wire (the other one from the pair of reds switch wire) is your live collection for your new light. Connect this to your brown L terminal/wire on your new light.
All three earth wires (probably bare, or sleeved with green/yellow) should be connected together, and connected to the ground E terminal/wire on your new light.
If you are wiring up a new plastic ceiling pendant there is a strip of connectors running across the backplate. If you look carefully t is divided up into sections. The three red wires all go into the central strip of three terminals, the two blacks go into the other set of three terminals next to it. The lone red goes into the double terminal to the other side of them. The earth wires all go into the lone separate terminal/connector off to the side.
I hope this helps, and is not too confusing. Also please bear in mind that I am making some (normally correct) assumptions, and without seeing it in person it can never possible to be to know that someone hasn’t previously done something “unusual”.

StMark, March 2011