Fitting a fluorescent strip light.

[scottyearl]

Hi guys, thought it's about time to come to the experts, basically my set up is, 3 wires coming out of the ceiling, each wire has its own blue, brown and pure copper core (no flex), i assume these are neutral, live and earth.

Also 2 of the brown wires are connected into one of those grey electrical connectors/joiners with the pins to screw the wire down in place.

Basically the old light that was there is identical but was taken down without me having the chance to look at it properly to see what goes where, so now im a bit stuck. Ive tried putting the 3 neutrals in the neutral terminal on the light and the 3 earths in the earth terminal, with the one remaining live wire in the live terminal, but the light still wont work, however the lights behind it in the series circuit (i assume it to be setup like that) now work where as before when the wires were not connected up to anything, none of those lights would turn on.

Anyone who can give me a hand here i would be truely greatful, heres a diagram i drew the best i could, there were a few more wires within the light itself running between the connectors and various components inside but i cant remember the exacts of them so left them out.


http://i41.tinypic.com/i1i691.jpg

[scottyearl]

Sorted now....

For future reference if anyone needs this/comes across same job.

Mains tester screwdriver to identify switched live, then:



switched live (blue) -> live terminal on light,
remaining 2 neutrals (blue) -> neutral terminal on light,
all grounds (bare core) -> ground terminal on light,
all lives (brown) -> together, in a seperate connector away from the light
.

[cj-sharpy]

Joint all your lives (browns) with a connector and tape them up. (use brown or white tape)
Joint all earth (Bare copper) the same but remember to sheath them in green and yellow sheathing and use green and yellow tape. Run an earth connection from this block to the earth connection on you fitting.
Put a connector block on every blue. Do not tape, the blocks are just to stop you getting a shock.
Put the light switch to the OFF position (normally by puching the top half of the switch) and using a neon screwdriver none should light up. Turn the switch on and test again. One of these blue wire should now cause the neon screwdiver to light up. This is your switched live.
Mark your switched live with some brown tape and turn electrics off at the main fuse board.
Connect the two neutrals (blue with no brown tape) to the N connection on your light.
Connect the switched live (blue with brown tape) to the L connection on your light.
Pressuming you have no test gear you cant test its all done right so make sure switch is in the on position and turn your fuse board back on.
Light should now be on and can be turned off and on by the light switch.

[Greg]

Joint all your lives (browns) with a connector and tape them up. (use brown or white tape)
Joint all earth (Bare copper) the same but remember to sheath them in green and yellow sheathing and use green and yellow tape. Run an earth connection from this block to the earth connection on you fitting.
Put a connector block on every blue. Do not tape, the blocks are just to stop you getting a shock.
Put the light switch to the OFF position (normally by puching the top half of the switch) and using a neon screwdriver none should light up. Turn the switch on and test again. One of these blue wire should now cause the neon screwdiver to light up. This is your switched live.
Mark your switched live with some brown tape and turn electrics off at the main fuse board.
Connect the two neutrals (blue with no brown tape) to the N connection on your light.
Connect the switched live (blue with brown tape) to the L connection on your light.
Pressuming you have no test gear you cant test its all done right so make sure switch is in the on position and turn your fuse board back on.
Light should now be on and can be turned off and on by the light switch.

:p what he said