1 switch turning on 2 lights - HELP

[Lisa Barton]

We've recently fitted a new light fitting into our bedroom - it's on a loop switch, connecting to our back bedroom. There are 3 sets of cables, 1 set has a black and a red, 1 set has a black, red and earth and the last set has a black, red and a bare wire which we assumed was also an earth cable. We used a multimetre to identify the live wire and the switch wire as this wasn't marked. The second set had the live red wire, and we believe the switch wire. We wired everything up - but that's where we hit a problem. The light in our room doesn't turn on with our light switch - the switch in our room isn't doing anything now. But when we flick the switch in the back room, it turns on both the lights in our room and the back room. Clearly we've wired something up wrong - but wecan't find where! Can anyone advise?

 

[Spoon]

Fault finding is hard over the internet.
Can you post pics of the wiring to the new light and also the wiring to the switch in your bedroom. This might help us.

 

[streamer]

Hi Lisa. You have posted this twice. It will become very confusing if you don't delete one of them.

 

[elsparko]

this is what happens when mere mortals mess with our wizardry equipment

 

[westward10]

I have reported the other post so hopefully it will disappear.

 

[MJPD29]

I think it's time to call in an electrician with testing equipment and knowledge

 

[ipf]

I could come up with some theory and a regulation or two but the wiring connections are definitely down the spout.
DIY forum, me thinks.
...something tells me it's a black switchwire you should be looking for....

 

[Andy-1960]

With technology we have available to us today, it never ceases to amaze me that people do not take pictures before they start messing!

 

[telectrix]

With technology we have available to us today, it never ceases to amaze me that people do not take pictures before they start messing!

but that would make life incredibly dull.

 

[kenny7askew]

With technology we have available to us today, it never ceases to amaze me that people do not take pictures before they start messing!

ooh not in the bedroom matron

 

[Richard Burns]

You should be ensuring that there is an earth run to each point in the wiring for safety. The lack of an earth on one cable is not a good idea.

The symptoms you describe are difficult to follow from a textual description and from what I gather it would be difficult to arrange the effect described without running additional cables. Therefore I would assume you have supplied your new light from the switched supply of the old light or wired them in series.
However this would not generate the symptoms you describe so accurate identifications of the cores of the cables would be necessary to be able to resolve the problem. Local on site professional assistance would be a simpler solution.

 

[elsparko]

With technology we have available to us today, it never ceases to amaze me that people do not take pictures before they start messing!

i always do when taking apart something ive not seen/worked on before, i had to replace the flex on a fridge freezer, there were several unmarked terminals for me to choose from and no manual

 

[elsparko]

if someone talks to me whilst testing ive often had to go back and take a result that ive forgotten on the way to my laptop lol