Baffled by ceiling light system with 3 cables Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[mjbweb]

Hi Guys,

I am after some advice please, we have recently moved to an older property and i have started the long list of jobs of stuff that needs to be resolved. I am baffled by the lighting system in the ceiling, so i have 3 Cables, i am assuming 2 are old style 3core and 1 is the new style. A picture attached shows the setup to the old ceiling light, i am now moving this to a light fitting which only has one terminal block with one hole for Live, N and Earth.

I have some waggo connectors but wanted some advice on how to get this right if possible please, Hopefully the two pictures make sense. I have read the guidance in DIY projects, and one of the Black Wires (with red tape) is i am assuming a Switch Live, which in this instance also needs to go into Live i believe? Preferally if anyone could tell me in what order to connect to the wago please?

Thanks in advance

[stoneyboy]

Hi mjbweb
The three live wires (2 red + 1 brown) which are connected together should go into a 3 way wago, the two neutral cables ( 1 blue + 1 black) should both go into the neutral terminal on the new light and the black with the red sleeve should go to the live terminal on the new light. There should be provision for connecting the earth lead - looks like the middle connection point.
Regards S

[mjbweb]

Thank you,

That was simple. Superstar !! Cheers

[mjbweb]

Thanks stoney,

I have really struggled to get the three earths into the one single earth terminal. There really strong copper

Do you have any suggestions, can the earths go in a wago? I have some spare three core cable.

Everything else goes together easily.

[stoneyboy]

Hi mjbweb
Yes fit them into a wago and use an extra lead from the wago to go into the light fitting.
Regards S

[mjbweb]

Thanks for replying,

It seems to be tripping the system out each time,

To confirm i have,

Black (Red Sleeve) in the Live Terminal
Blue and Black in the Neutral Terminal
Red/Red/Brown in a 3 way wago, Do i need to run anything from this?
And the 3 earth in a 4 way wago, have stripped some additional earth cable into the 4 hole and this is dirrectly plugged into the Earth Terminal.

Thanks for helping.

[Mr White]

What is "tripping" and when is it "tripping"

Is it the MCB for the lights or is it an RCD ?

Does it trip when you turn the light on or...............

[mjbweb]

Hey,

RCD tripped, and I believe this was when I went to try the light after connecting everything up.

Thanks

[stoneyboy]

Hi mjbweb
You are correct that only the three wires need to go in the live wago. Presumably you put sleeving on the wago to light wire. You need to check whether the trip went when you turned the circuit on or whether it went when you switched the light on. Assuming there is no fault in the light itself you may find one of the earth wires is crushed against a neutral wire.
Regards S