Too many wires for light connection! HELP!!


  #1  
Old 11-20-04, 12:14 AM
Bunji
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Too many wires for light connection! HELP!!

Hi all ...

I recently purchased a light fitting from IKEA ( ) to replace a standard ceiling light fitting (one bulb). The problem I have is that the new light fitting has a thingo that you can connect one earth (green/yellow) one neutral (black) and one live (red) wire to it, but there are four wires that come out of the ceiling from the standard light connection (green/yellow, black, red and BLUE).

Firstly, I connected the earth, neutral and live wire to the new light (taping up the blue wire) and although the light worked the light switch was actually off, and flicking it into the on or off position made no difference to the light - it was permanently ON.

Therefore, I assumed that the blue wire had something to do with the light switch, but without any spot on the back of the new light fitting to connect it to I tried a number of combinations of pairing it with one of the other wires (yes I know it was foolhardy, lucky i have a circuit breaker) ... anyway, pairing the blue wire with the earth wire produced the same result (light on, no switch control), pairing the blue wire with the neutral wire meant the light was on, but tripped the circuit breaker when i tried the switch - the same thing happened when i paired the blue wire with the live wire.

At the moment I have a lovely new light fitting hanging forlornly out of my ceiling and am eating my dinner practically in the dark because I have no idea how to make this light work as it's supposed to.

Is it possible to buy a different plastic wire connector thingo - you know the thing that goes between the light fitting wiring and the actual house wiring so that has a spot for the blue wire?

Someone please help me before i turn myself into a hanging kebab!

(ps - i'm in australia if that helps regarding the wire colours)
 
  #2  
Old 11-20-04, 08:50 AM
J
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Standard wire colors for Europe and Australia are brown for line, light blue for neutral, and a combination of green and yellow for ground. However, black and red are also frequently used for line (hot wires). In the U.S., common convention would be that red is the switched hot and black is the unswitched hot.

Is there just one each of those wires in the ceiling?

Please stop experimenting. The worst case scenario is that one of your experiments makes the light work perfectly, but the next person to change a light bulb is electrocuted. Don't kid yourself--this is a possible scenario. Not everything that works is safe.
 
  #3  
Old 11-20-04, 09:09 AM
J
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Can you tell us how the old light was connected? The same two wires that were connected to your old fixture connect to your new fixture.
 
  #4  
Old 11-20-04, 03:55 PM
Bunji
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Originally Posted by John Nelson
Standard wire colors for Europe and Australia are brown for line, light blue for neutral, and a combination of green and yellow for ground. However, black and red are also frequently used for line (hot wires). In the U.S., common convention would be that red is the switched hot and black is the unswitched hot.

Is there just one each of those wires in the ceiling?
Yes there is one red and one black wire coming from the ceiling (as well as a green/yellow and a blue).

Please stop experimenting. The worst case scenario is that one of your experiments makes the light work perfectly, but the next person to change a light bulb is electrocuted. Don't kid yourself--this is a possible scenario. Not everything that works is safe.
I have stopped experimenting, that's why I'm asking advice from you guys .

Originally Posted by joed
Can you tell us how the old light was connected? The same two wires that were connected to your old fixture connect to your new fixture.
? well, for a start there were 4 wires coming out of the ceiling, all of which connected to the original light fitting (which was a simple one bulb light connection). i WOULD connect all 4 wires to the new light fitting if there was provision for them in the new light fitting .. alas there is only provision for 3 wires (L, E, N) leaving me with one spare wire.
 
  #5  
Old 11-20-04, 08:37 PM
J
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The next logical step is to examine the wiring at the wall switch or switches and tell us what you find there.
 
  #6  
Old 11-21-04, 09:04 AM
J
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Tell us how the wires were connected to the old fixture.
Do you use ring circuits in Australia?
 
 

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