Light won't switch off!

by **Jo Samanovic** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 10:45 am

Please help, I have wired a ceiling rose following the advice given on this website but when I switched the mains back on the light came on even though the switch was in the off position. It stays on wether it is switched on or off. Very confusing as I thought I had it sussed. Please help.

by **ericmark** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:59 pm

I would guess you have connected the permanent line wire to lamp instead of to loop.
In most homes the lamp has two blacks or two blues connected to lamp one which should have a sleeve on.
No red or brown wires go to lamp.
There is an exception when twin red or twin brown is used to connect switch but because the cable is more expensive it is rare to find this.

by **Jo Samanovic** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:57 am

[quote="ericmark"]I would guess you have connected the permanent line wire to lamp instead of to loop.
In most homes the lamp has two blacks or two blues connected to lamp one which should have a sleeve on.
No red or brown wires go to lamp.
There is an exception when twin red or twin brown is used to connect switch but because the cable is more expensive it is rare to find this.

Thanks for your reply. Here is how it is at the moment..I have 3 yellow/green wires earthed, 2 black wires to neutral which connect to a blue wire coming from the lamp cable , 3 red wires to live, and a black with red sleeve wire to a seperate live which conects to a brown wire coming from the lamp cable. This is right isn't it? If not I am completely confused.
You say that no brown wire should go to the lamp, I'm assuming you don't mean the one that is in the lamp cable?
I hope this all makes sense. Thanks again.[/quote]

by **ericmark** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:30 am

That sounds correct you will need to test maybe faulty switch but no good guessing needs to be tested.

by **Jo Samanovic** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 12:25 pm

[quote="ericmark"]That sounds correct you will need to test maybe faulty switch but no good guessing needs to be tested.[/quote]

I have checked the switch and although everything seemed to be wired in securely I took the wires out and secured them back in again and 'hey presto' it has done the trick, light now working perfectly. Thanks for your advice.

by **colinhib** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 3:42 pm

Hi, I've a problem similar to Jo Samanovic only that my new fitting only has live/neutral and earth, ie - no separate live. There are 4 red, 3 black and 3 earth wires. None of the black wires have any markings or sleeve to identify it as switch line. The light and all others in the line work but cannot be controlled by the switch. Any ideas??