sorry, i posted in response to an old question when i should have started a new one

i have 3 cables coming out of the ceiling, each with 3 wires. i have taken the ceiling rose off so it is just wires.

my new B&Q fitting is a 4 block connector.

i understand that the 3 earths all go together, but what about the other 5 exactly?

these are:
1 switched live
2 neutral
3 live

please can someone tell me exactly which terminals these go in and out of?

thanks

MickeyT, March 2011

one more thing,if its old cables,i.e.all black same thing applies,find switch wire as stated before,but this time you must be careful as you have to turn the power on,and check between earth and each cable,the one that give you 240vts is the live,once you have found all the lives,put them in the middle connector,and the rest are neutrals,so they go to the neutral con,then thats your prob solved ,hope this helps

MM, April 2011

to put it simply,some sparks like the loop in loop out to the rose,others loop into the switch so you have the neutrals connected in a butt connector,with the loop live going into the common on the switch and from there to the next switch,and that is why on some new builds you will find neutrals in the switch box.

MM, April 2011

why do you guys make simple things complicated?
to find switch wire,turn all power off get a test meter,put it on the ohms scale,switch off all power to the lights,remove all cables from the rose,test each pair of cables in turn,.i.e get some one to turn light switch on and off as you test the cables,the cable that gives you a reading then clears when the light switch is turned off is the switch wire,now place one end of this on the terminal that the flexible cable is on,i.e.the brown one,and the other in the middle 3 terminals,now,if you have three reds,place them in the middle terminals,and if you have three blacks,(or blues)place them in the neutral terminal that the flexie cable goes to,this is a loop in loop out system,but some guys wire the neutrals to the switch box,so you have live feeds to the switch that feeds other lights,and a bunch of neutrals in switch box,norm connected together with a butt connector,so if anyone says there are no neutrals at a switch,you will know better.

mm, April 2011

Be wary of the blacks/blues, 2 of them will be neutral (in and out) but if you have 3, one of them is likely to be a switched live coming from the switch

Ken, March 2011

You wrote...
>here's my guess as to what goes where:

>switched live to live -

NO - Live goes to the Switch & Switched Live Comes out of the switch when the switch is ON - hence the expression Switched Live - it turns the light on and off. It needs to be connected to the lamp(s).

>all 3 neutrals to neutral* -

YES & NO There will be 3 Neutral conductors The Incoming Neutral - The Outgoing Neutral & the Neutral connection of the lamp(s)

>the 2 live loop wires go in and out of terminal 4 -

The number of the terminal is immaterial - There will need to be 3 Permanent Live conductors (all probably Red) - One will be Live coming in - another Live going to the next rose & the third will be Live going off to the switch. They stand alone - they connect to one another and to nothing else - they connect to the light only via the switch

Peccavi, March 2011

please also bear in mind, if you are a regular problem solver on here, that i have not managed to work out the solution from looking at previous questions & answers.

please therefore can you be very specific, or phrase things differently, especially regarding what goes in and out of the 4th terminal, and exactly what you might mean by the red wires going together.

MickeyT, March 2011

yes yes i know 9 minus 3 is 6!

here's my guess as to what goes where:

switched live to live
all 3 neutrals to neutral*
the 2 live loop wires go in and out of terminal 4

* the other minor detail is that these B&Q things are not particularly sturdy and i dont fancy trying to cram 3 wires into one terminal

MickeyT, March 2011