Trying to change a light fitting and?

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lightscribe2, Apr 21, 11:33am
have 3 red wires and one black new light fitting only has two holes what to do! please don't say get an electrician
lozzaqtn, Apr 21, 11:49am
call a hearse instead of an electrician
mrfxit, Apr 21, 11:50am
*POPCORN, PiES & COKE*
best you'll get some supplies in real fast cause THIS is going to get good ;-)
mrfxit, Apr 21, 11:51am
How were the wires arranged in the old fitting!
lightscribe2, Apr 21, 11:52am
ummm thought it may be a waste of time trying to get an intelligent answer on here
lightscribe2, Apr 21, 11:53am
ha thats what we don't know husband has done three previously but can't remember and this light has just been bare wires for years
lightscribe2, Apr 21, 11:54am
oh and the old fittings in this house had a space for 4 wires but the new ones don't
mrfxit, Apr 21, 11:56am
Thank you ;-)
rlr29, Apr 21, 12:26pm
Why not!
mrfxit, Apr 21, 12:40pm
There are a couple of reg sparky s that float around here but tend to be a bit overly pedantic at times.
BUTT
in saying that, getting a sparky in for this job sounds like a reasonable idea & "should" only be a 10/15 minute job to sus it out if all goes straight forward.
if it takes longer, then I would suspect theres a good reason.

This looks like a classic old house wiring system with no earth wire (earth being green) for lights which was & is very common to still find,.
It also appears to be part of a cluster of lights looped together.

Presuming it's only 1 light effected in the cluster, then it should be fairly straight forward for a sparky to sort it out
malone4, Apr 21, 12:42pm
the extra wires would be from the other lights as they are looped together.
one rule of thumb is to never put a red wire with a black. all reds in one socket and the black in the other.

'good luck'.
russ18, Apr 21, 12:59pm
Good chance it's a phase and neutral in (live all the time) then the other two reds are to the light switch and back.

Is it two TPS cables or conduit wire inside metal conduit!
Is there an earth wire and does the new light fitting need earthing!

If you don't know what to do then getting an electrician is the best idea.
davea74, Apr 21, 1:01pm
have a look in the switch that feeds that light, and tell us what you see there.If there are 2 reds, one in each terminal it's probably as russ says.
t_naki, Apr 21, 4:34pm
The black is the neutral. Of the red ones 1 will be permanently live and the other ones will be the switch wires, 1 will be to feed the power down the wall and the other to bring it back up to the light. As long as you are careful you can't really go wrong as long as you make sure it is dead when you are doing the terminations. If the cable is 2 cables then the 2 reds together will be the 2 that go to the switch.;
liggy2, Apr 21, 6:54pm
If the original light had a metal or is in metal conduit casing the green could be an earth -the black will be neutral and the red phase so you will need a test meter to check it but to be sure like an Irishman geta sparky get a sparky
mrfxit, Apr 23, 7:00am
OH COME ON . getting hungry here, I WANT MY *POPCORN, Pies & COKE*
russ18, Apr 23, 7:10am
Well then why don't you come back with some of your usual complete nonsensical explanations and made up names for things so we can all rubbish you (apparently called being "pedantic").
So far you asked a very reasonable question in post 4 and only went a bit off in post 10. assuming protective earthing conductors are always green and not bare and that the lights are looped together in a "cluster" even though there's only one neutral.
skin1235, Apr 23, 8:04am
yet this one slipped by you

now you tell me what will happen if you put the reds in one side of a light fitting and the blacks in the other!

hint - go buy another couple of big coils of fuse wire - or tape the circuit breaker closed if you really want to hook it up so, gets a decent fire going real quick and you can claim the insurance on the ashes
leighfrancesca, Apr 23, 8:29am
If you don't want to get a sparky in perhaps you could get an ambo crew in and have the insurance company on the line for when you reapply power.
mrfxit, Apr 23, 8:54am
Mmmm & how many years has it been since bare earth wires were installed as original.
Come to think of it^^same for conduit as original
Or even rubber coated wiring.

>>>>>> >>>>> BUT . to be fair to everybody, it would help to know when this house was 1st built & wired & has there been any upgrades done to the installed wiring since then (excluding external fittings etc) but including meter box & fittings).

it will help pin point the age of whats probably been installed from original to now.

A lack of photo's (of which may or may not be any real help) & the lack of a physical inspection require all sorts of questions to be asked & answered.
mrfxit, Apr 23, 9:17am
Oh & since when has a house NOT had lights wired up in a cluster of fittings. (never mind power points.)
Are you trying to say that lights are generally wired up as singles (switchboard & back)

Even Tom (T-Naki) has a better sense of humor then you (when suitable)

Also, you have totally failed to mention that I have consistently suggested to get a reg sparky in if not sure.
No need to guess what your ppl skills are like.
Yes electricity can be a pretty dangerous business but scaring ppl in to only ever getting a sparky to do things doesn't help either

Lighten up a bit, life's too short as it is.
Anyway's, I have other things to fry this morning (breakfast being 1 of them)
russ18, Apr 23, 1:52pm
Now there's the nonsense we've come to expect.
mrfxit, Apr 23, 1:57pm
LOL & thats what I expected from you.
Good for you ;-)
davea74, Apr 23, 1:57pm
so all houses are now upgraded to TPS!Get real there are still plenty of the 'old' installations around.
mrfxit, Apr 23, 2:02pm
Did I SAY THAT ("all houses are now upgraded to TPS") .^^ no
Did I say theres a lot of those original older untouchedinstallations still around . YEP

Get it right .
You are just as bad at PR as Russ.

You changed what I said
He uses a non committable sentence to convey sarcasm

LOL.