Hi,
I had an issue with a lighting circuit a few weeks ago, the detail of which I don’t think will help here. I thought the issue was fully sorted, but this week I noticed that certain combinations of lights are not working as expected.
In terms of my knowledge/experience, I am confident to change light fittings and switches when its like for like, but I’m certainly no electrician.
The circuit has 7 lights on it. I think 3 can be ignored as they were not touched during my recent issue and they continue to work as expected.
Of the other 4, Light 1 is on a 2-way switch (there is also an intermediate involved, but that hasn’t been touched and works as expected), Lights 2,3 and 4 are on 1-way switches.
During my recent incident I had to call in an electrician who removed Lights 1 and 2 to carry out some tests. He left me with instructions on how to rewire the fittings. Lights 3 and 4 were not touched.
I understand that in terms of the ordering of the lights on the circuit, that Light 1 is earliest, Light 1 feeds Light 2, and then 3 and 4 are after 2 (but I’m not sure which order 3 and 4 are in are in). I assume that the other 3 I am ignoring must be before Light 1.
My current situation is that Light1 works as I would expect. The symptoms of the problem can be seen on Lights 2, 3 and 4.
When light 2 is switched on, lights 3 and 4 cannot be switched on (if you switch light 3/4 on whilst light 2 is on, then turn off light 2, light 3/4 will come on). If Light 2 is off, Lights 3 and 4 can both be switched on, but if they are both switched on at the same time, one of the lights (always the same one) is dimmer than if its on on its own.
I assume that during my recent incident Light 1 or Light 2 has been wired incorrectly.
If I take down Light 2, there are 3 sets of wires (each containing their own red, black and earth wires). All the reds are connected to eachother. Of the 3 blacks, 2 are live when tested with a light up pen (this surprised me, based on previous experience, I would have expected to only see one live). Flicking the switch for Light 2 does not stop either being live (and also does not change the other black on – its stays non-live). Both live black wires are connected to the blue wire that comes from the light fitting, the single non-live black wire, is connected to the brown wire from the light fitting. (I tried connecting the 2 live ones to brown and the other to blue, that only changed Light 2 being on when the switch was in the off position and off when in the one position, Lights 3 and 4 behaved the same).
If I take down Light 1 (2-way with an intermediate) I again have 3 sets of wires each containing red, black and earth, but then also 2 single black wires (coated in grey – I’ll refer to those as grey wires from here on). All reds and one of the greys are connected. The other grey (which I think is the permanent live) is connected to the brown wire of the light fitting. All 3 blacks are connected with the blue. If I disconnect these blacks, I see that one is live. If I then disconnect Light 2, it stops being live (so I assume that is the wire connecting Light 1 and Light 2).
Based on the above, does anybody have any idea what can be the issue? Any advice gratefully received, but either way thanks for even reading this far!
I had an issue with a lighting circuit a few weeks ago, the detail of which I don’t think will help here. I thought the issue was fully sorted, but this week I noticed that certain combinations of lights are not working as expected.
In terms of my knowledge/experience, I am confident to change light fittings and switches when its like for like, but I’m certainly no electrician.
The circuit has 7 lights on it. I think 3 can be ignored as they were not touched during my recent issue and they continue to work as expected.
Of the other 4, Light 1 is on a 2-way switch (there is also an intermediate involved, but that hasn’t been touched and works as expected), Lights 2,3 and 4 are on 1-way switches.
During my recent incident I had to call in an electrician who removed Lights 1 and 2 to carry out some tests. He left me with instructions on how to rewire the fittings. Lights 3 and 4 were not touched.
I understand that in terms of the ordering of the lights on the circuit, that Light 1 is earliest, Light 1 feeds Light 2, and then 3 and 4 are after 2 (but I’m not sure which order 3 and 4 are in are in). I assume that the other 3 I am ignoring must be before Light 1.
My current situation is that Light1 works as I would expect. The symptoms of the problem can be seen on Lights 2, 3 and 4.
When light 2 is switched on, lights 3 and 4 cannot be switched on (if you switch light 3/4 on whilst light 2 is on, then turn off light 2, light 3/4 will come on). If Light 2 is off, Lights 3 and 4 can both be switched on, but if they are both switched on at the same time, one of the lights (always the same one) is dimmer than if its on on its own.
I assume that during my recent incident Light 1 or Light 2 has been wired incorrectly.
If I take down Light 2, there are 3 sets of wires (each containing their own red, black and earth wires). All the reds are connected to eachother. Of the 3 blacks, 2 are live when tested with a light up pen (this surprised me, based on previous experience, I would have expected to only see one live). Flicking the switch for Light 2 does not stop either being live (and also does not change the other black on – its stays non-live). Both live black wires are connected to the blue wire that comes from the light fitting, the single non-live black wire, is connected to the brown wire from the light fitting. (I tried connecting the 2 live ones to brown and the other to blue, that only changed Light 2 being on when the switch was in the off position and off when in the one position, Lights 3 and 4 behaved the same).
If I take down Light 1 (2-way with an intermediate) I again have 3 sets of wires each containing red, black and earth, but then also 2 single black wires (coated in grey – I’ll refer to those as grey wires from here on). All reds and one of the greys are connected. The other grey (which I think is the permanent live) is connected to the brown wire of the light fitting. All 3 blacks are connected with the blue. If I disconnect these blacks, I see that one is live. If I then disconnect Light 2, it stops being live (so I assume that is the wire connecting Light 1 and Light 2).
Based on the above, does anybody have any idea what can be the issue? Any advice gratefully received, but either way thanks for even reading this far!
