Advice Needed - Lights blown after fitting

[Paul Haynes]

First off I'll say I'm not an electrician at all, I'm just a guy who bought a house and tried to fit new lights in the hallway. So I found that out of the two light sockets, one had the usual three wires (blue, brown and yellow/green) whilst the other had two of each of those wires, so 6 in total. I fitted both lights, but on the second one (with the 6 wires) I put two wires into each connector, without knowing any better. The lights worked for a few days, then one day I turned them on and there was a pop and they went off. The light switch I used has now fused (I think), basically it won't flick on and off anymore, it's just stuck. So I was going to call an electrician but in an attempt to save some money, is there an easy fix here, or an obvious reason as to what went wrong? I spoke to a friend who knows a bit about this and he suggested maybe I shouldn't have put two of each wire into the second light, and that some of those wires should have been marked up in some way (they weren't, beyond having two blue, two brown and two yellow/green).



Thanks for any advice

 

[Paul Haynes]

You have probably connected the switched live cable into neutral.

This sounds like what my friend was talking about (one of the wires should have been marked up differently?), please could you explain further as I don't know how I would have been able to tell the difference between the cables or the correct place to put them

 

[Spoon]

This sounds like what my friend was talking about (one of the wires should have been marked up differently?), please could you explain further as I don't know how I would have been able to tell the difference between the cables or the correct place to put them

Sorry mate, it's against forum rules to give out step-by-step guidance on here.

How The DIY Area Works And The Step By Step Guide Rule - https://www.electriciansforums.co.uk/threads/how-the-diy-area-works-and-the-step-by-step-guide-rule.99209/

 

[Paul Haynes]

You have probably connected the switched live cable into neutral.

This sounds like what my friend was talking about (one of the wires should have been marked up differently?), please could you explain further as I don't know how I would have been able to tell the difference between the cables or the correct place to put them

Sorry mate, it's against forum rules to give out step-by-step guidance on here.

How The DIY Area Works And The Step By Step Guide Rule - https://www.electriciansforums.co.uk/threads/how-the-diy-area-works-and-the-step-by-step-guide-rule.99209/

Oh ok. Didn't realise, thanks for the info anyway

 

[littlespark]

You have probably connected the switched live cable into neutral.

Sorry, Pyro. It cant be that. OP mentions it worked for a few days, then suddenly went pop.
Connecting the switched live to neutral causes a problem instantly, and normally comes with a bang rather than a pop

Paul, I think your description is fine, and you've got the cables connected into the right terminals. Both fittings in the hallway, both off the same switch.
One fitting has switch wire and neutral in, and switch wire and neutral out... the other has only one switch wire and neutral. Looped switch circuit... there's no looped live.

I do, however, think your friend is thinking along the same lines as Pyro. Has he seen the wiring or just imagining what its like? (is your friend an electrician?)

Its either a squashed cable that's just suddenly decided to short out, or an unrelated problem with the circuit that has just coincidently happened.

 

[Paul Haynes]

Sorry, Pyro. It cant be that. OP mentions it worked for a few days, then suddenly went pop.
Connecting the switched live to neutral causes a problem instantly, and normally comes with a bang rather than a pop

Paul, I think your description is fine, and you've got the cables connected into the right terminals. Both fittings in the hallway, both off the same switch.
One fitting has switch wire and neutral in, and switch wire and neutral out... the other has only one switch wire and neutral. Looped switch circuit... there's no looped live.

I do, however, think your friend is thinking along the same lines as Pyro. Has he seen the wiring or just imagining what its like? (is your friend an electrician?)

Its either a squashed cable that's just suddenly decided to short out, or an unrelated problem with the circuit that has just coincidently happened.

Good info thank you. My friend isn't an electrician by trade but I think has some qualifications as he has been known to carry out odd jobs for people. He was going to draw me a diagram of my circuit but never got around to it.
Sounds like I will just have to see what the guy says next week. But I just didn't want him to end up asking to stay for another hour and the whole thing costing me £120!

 

[chris gray]

You could isolate the circuit and have a look at the connections you’ve done, just to eliminate a loose or squashed cable?

 

[Paul Haynes]

T

You could isolate the circuit and have a look at the connections you’ve done, just to eliminate a loose or squashed cable?

Will give that a shot at the weekend, cheers!