Kitchen spotbar

[Gozoman]

I'm fitting new spotlights to my kitchen ceiling. At present there are two single bulbs. A double switch at the kitchen door controls both lights and there is also a single switch at the back door for one of the lights. At present there are three cables coming into the ceiling rose connected into a two, three, three connector block. The first two connectors in the block contain one red wire from the household supply and the brown wire from the present light fitting. The middle three connectors contain three red wires, and the last three connectors contain two black wires and the blue wire from the present light fitting.

My new spot bar has a block of three single connectors for the neutral, earth and switched live and a fourth seperate block for loop termination if necessary. I have photos but can't find any way of attaching them. Can someone tell me the correct wiring procedure for the new lights as there doesn't seem to be enough room to connect everything up.

 

[midgetman]

Share the solution

 

[nickblake]

Just post up anything you're struggling with Nick

just cant do anything with my hair at the moment i look like the flipping nutty professer

 

[trev]

just cant do anything with my hair at the moment i look like the flipping nutty professer

Apparently Tressemé do a full range of professional quality hair care products which will solve your problem.

 

[telectrix]

go to a professional hairdresser. you're obviously not competent to brush your own hair. badly combed hair can be fatal. if it falls over your eyes while driving.:6:

 

[nickblake]

Daughters a trainee hairdresser just need it cut , she's out and a teenager , fein multimaster that should do the trick now where is it !!!!!!

 

[telectrix]

probably left it in the sheep pen after scalping the collie.

 

[Guest77]

Epic Fail

 

[Gozoman]

I have solved the problem without having to even remove the wires from the present rose fitting. The new spot bar comes with a fitting which screws to the ceiling to attach the spot bar to. I can use the two screws which are holding the present fitting to secure this to the ceiling below the present plate fitting. There is a slight difference in the diameter of the plate and the internal diameter of the new fitting but from what I can see it is no more than the screw threads on the present plate. So the plan is to turn off the power at the board and then double check with a phase tester just to make sure. Loosen the two screws holding the plate to the ceiling and use the Dremmel to take the thread off all round. That should reduce the outside diameter enough for the new fitting to go over it without weakening the plate itself. Take the two screws out and put the new holder behind the plate and reinsert the screws and tighten up. Then I'll remove the silly little wiring block from inside the new fitting and connect the blue and brown wires to the plate on the ceiling where the old light flex was attached to. Last but not least run an earth wire from the fitting to the block on the plate and secure the new light to the ceiling. That way the original wiring doesn't have to removed at all. Don't think I've missed anything.
By the way I have my own continuity tester, in fact I have two plus phase testers which I always have to hand. Also about 40 years ago I bought an old house and my father and I ripped it apart including the old crumbling wires and broken sockets and we rebuilt the house between us including rewiring the entire house. When it was finished my father got his mate who was an electrician to come and check it and it was fine. The scary thing was that the person I bought the house off was a professional builder who was also supposed to be an electrician. If I had trusted in the work this professional had done in his own house I'd probably be dead by now.
My main reason for asking the question was to ascertain how so called professionals deal with the stupid little wiring blocks that come today in light fittings. Rather than trying to be funny the correct response should have been that you rip it out and replace it with a decent wiring block, but hey who am I to question the workings of a professionals mind!

 

[Adam W]

You could wire it differently so there aren't so many wires at the fitting.

... Or is that not 'the correct response'?

TBH Gozoman I had difficulty visualising what you were trying to explain. I'm perfectly capable of changing a light fitting on my own and overcoming any unforeseen difficulties, but it's always much easier when I can see what I'm doing.

 

[Andy78]

Adam W... sounds like he is going to leave the ceiling rose base on the ceiling and wire into the flex terminals.

Gozoman, with your new fitting requiring an earth at it, have you used your continuity tester to verify that there is a continuous earth throughout the circuit ? This is a step not to be skipped.
I applaud your previous efforts of rewiring a house 40 years ago. It obviously gives you license to reject all the advice given here as patronising.
By the way I have just completed a rewire on a house that was last wired 42 years ago by a fully qualified electrician and the householder. It has worked fine for all that time. What an utter shambles though ! hardly any of it was done correctly and half of it was potentially unsafe. Just saying.

 

[Adam W]

Adam W... sounds like he is going to leave the ceiling rose base on the ceiling and wire into the flex terminals.

That's what it sounded like to me as well. It's one way of doing it I suppose, although you wouldn't be able to do that with every modern light fitting.
It was really the first post I didn't understand - it wasn't clear if it was one light or two separate lights or what.
The main thing is it's sorted now, pats on the back all round.

 

[Guest77]

In other words we may have another John Wayne on the forum?

 

[trev]

Do any of these testers have a recent calibration certificate or is that something which is not necessary?
No mention of an IR test I note
Still, who am I to critique the methods of a DIYer, I'm just an electrician.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Do any of these testers have a recent calibration certificate or is that something which is not necessary?
No mention of an IR test I note
Still, who am I to critique the methods of a DIYer, I'm just an electrician.

I'm just a plumber / gas fitter / heating engineer and this is my I.R. tester:

 

[dingledong]

The main thing is it's sorted now, pats on the back all round.[/QUOTE]

That's rather racist

 

[dingledong]

I just know I will have to explain this ! !

 

[Guest77]

Do any of these testers have a recent calibration certificate or is that something which is not necessary?
No mention of an IR test I note
Still, who am I to critique the methods of a DIYer, I'm just an electrician.

Your a rare thing here trev, rarer than the lesser spotted woodpecker, I just took a photo of your avatar so I have evidence electricians used to roam this site lol

 

[trev]

Your a rare thing here trev, rarer than the lesser spotted woodpecker, I just took a photo of your avatar so I have evidence electricians used to roam this site lol

There's still a good few of us left mate, look at you for example.

 

[Silly Sausage]

And some of these trainees ain't too bad either!

 

[Adam W]

The main thing is it's sorted now, pats on the back all round.

That's rather racist

 

[Gozoman]

Adam W... sounds like he is going to leave the ceiling rose base on the ceiling and wire into the flex terminals.

Gozoman, with your new fitting requiring an earth at it, have you used your continuity tester to verify that there is a continuous earth throughout the circuit ? This is a step not to be skipped.
I applaud your previous efforts of rewiring a house 40 years ago. It obviously gives you license to reject all the advice given here as patronising.
By the way I have just completed a rewire on a house that was last wired 42 years ago by a fully qualified electrician and the householder. It has worked fine for all that time. What an utter shambles though ! hardly any of it was done correctly and half of it was potentially unsafe. Just saying.

That's what I found 40 years ago. There were actually still a few 15 amp and even 5 amp sockets. Don't know what the hell he was using those for but they were live. Plus at the top of the stairs right outside the bedroom door I found a junction box which had gone one better than all four cut-outs removed. He had removed all the plastic all the way around and there were wires everywhere. Plus the wiring had been there so long that when you rubbed it between your finger and thumb it crumbled. The best part though was that he had the entire gable end on the house resting on a door frame as he failed to put in a header.