No lights help!!!!!!

[vikingbobw]

Hi all. I'm new to electrics so am really tearing my hair out trying to find a fault and I'm hoping that with all the knowledge and experience on here a solution can be found. Here goes:

I have two lights in seperate rooms that will not work. I have so far changed the bulbs, changed the fuses and checked with a mains voltage tester to see that power is going to the switches and the bulb socket, it is. Now if power is going to the switch and the light fitting it can only be the bulb, right? Well as you see I have already checked and changed them. Everything else in the house is fine including the sockets in those rooms.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Bob

 

[vikingbobw]

Thanks all for the advice and tips especially Chris for the chat. Unable to sort the problem right now but I will get to it as soon as I am able and let you all know how it goes.

Thanks again.

Bob

 

[johnboy6083]

dont use them screwdriver things for anything other than for throwing at the bin!

 

[chris gray]

L - N 230v
L - E 230v

 

[Sav]

Hi Vikingbobw,

Are you testing low voltage light fittings?? i.e the ones where your lamp has 2 pins?

If yes, then you probably have faulty lamp holders, they are the little porcelin holders that you push your lamp into.

I would say you have a faulty transformer, but as your getting 12v, it looks like its working.
Hope this helps a little bit !!!

Sav

 

[Sintra]

dont use them screwdriver things for anything other than for throwing at the bin!

My son who is an apprentice brought 1 home thinking it was great.

He wasn't laughing when it got smashed with a club hammer.

 

[johnr]

My son who is an apprentice brought 1 home thinking it was great.

He wasn't laughing when it got smashed with a club hammer.

what a waste of a perfectly good bradawl..

 

[nickblake]

Ok just got up and feeling crap so this might not make sence ,, if the lights are pendants lamp holder unscrew the rose cover in there you should have reds and blacks or blue and brown , there should be one with a red / brown marker , i say should if the light is center of the run you shoud have 3 reds/ browns , 2 blacks / blues plus blues for the flex to the lamp holder , 1 black / blue with either red or brown marker with the brown of the flex for the lamp holder , test across the 3 reds / browns and the 2 blacks / blues see if any thing live .if yes switch the light on and test between the 2 black blues and the black blue with the markers on if they have markers this may be unidentified but it will be the single black with the brown flex to the lamp holder , if youve not got a tester either go get a decent one about £35.00 or call a spark

 

[nickblake]

My son who is an apprentice brought 1 home thinking it was great.

He wasn't laughing when it got smashed with a club hammer.

my daughter had one great for punching holes in plaster board my feelings are the same they are every where

 

[johnboy6083]

what gets me is they are still being sold as mains testers, and some people would actually use them to prove dead before starting work! i wonder how many people have been hurt doing this!
I've heard the stories of them getting wet and then providing involuntary movement of the said person when used!

 

[vikingbobw]

Hi all, No I'm not dead yet!!!! I have just yesterday and today had a chance to work my way round the system and look at all wires and fittings I can think of and taking into account all the good advice you have provided me.

First Q, the bathroom light which I think is the one before the problem has 1 loose black wire in the rose. It doesn't look like it has come out of anywhere but surely there should be none? I can get to it in the loft but as to which terminal it is likely to connect to I will just have to work that out. Another point is the bathroom light works fine but can I assume the lose wire will cause a problem in preventing the power to flow to the others?

So for I have.

1. Been using the pen break point tester (I know they are not popular) and can find nowhere where it does not give a signal of power in the wires. That's up in the loft,the teminals in the light fitting etc
2. All the wires in the roses (apart from the one above) are fixed in place.

I'm going to give the black wire a try then check back, hopefully none of you will have written "NOOOOOOOO FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T TOUCH THE BLACK WIRE!!!" HA.

bOB

 

[vikingbobw]

I have attached a picture of what I found in the loft. Looks nothing like I expected and it's not too detailed. It had one black wire in a terminal, two red in together in a terminal and two 'gold'(?) in a terminal each. I connected the loose black wire to the terminal where the single black wire was, nothing.

From what's been said before I'm not altogether sure it goes black with black so will have another scan of the DIY book.

Bob

 

[vikingbobw]

Oh and one more thing. Might be obvious to most but the bathroom light now does not work because of the newly connected black wire so I assume it either does not need connecting (although it was uncovered) or needs connecting to another terminal with another wire.

Bob

 

[nickblake]

Ah ok what you need to do is take the light fitting down pull the three wires through the ceiling and put a junction box on it then use a three core flex to the light fitting , wiring you have there is a standard in out switch ,so you first have to identify the switch wire , and lable it up ,you have two neutrals ,4 lives one of them will be black ,the return from the switch ,connect the three reds to gether in the junction box , then connect the two blacks and the blue from the flex together in a junction box , then sleeve and connect the earth together in the junction box then you should have 1 black left this is the return from the switch connect that to the brown of the flex ,push those heat resistan wires back into the light fitting and connect them to the three core flex one to brown and one to blue and the earth to the fitting case .hope that helps

 

[nickblake]

What does the light fitting look like

 

[vikingbobw]

Hi Nick. Thanks for the advice. I have taken another pic of the mess (side on). It shows the red wires not connected to anything. The loose black wire, the two blacks connected to seperate terminals and the two gold wires connected to two seperate terminals.

The two golds then go to the light fitting so I assume they are the switch live wires? The rest is connected as it was but now thanks to my dud finger the bathroom and all the bedroom lights are out.

Please bear in mind apart from knowing to turn the power off I am a complete idiot at trying to work these things out.

Bob