Jump to content

Domestic Lighting


gomatthome

Recommended Posts

A quick question for any electricians out there.

 

My son has recently moved into a new house and in the kitchen he has downlighters one of which does not work.

 

Looking at the wiring it would appear to be the last one on the loop as it only has one wire going into it and the others have two.

 

Obviously changed the bulb so this is not the problem.

 

Changed the fitting in case this was problem but again still not working.

 

Its a standard lighting wire with blue / brown wires the earth not connected.

 

Using a tester when the lights are switched on the brown shows power (the light within the tester lights up)

 

I might need to check but he tells me that the blue wire is also indicating power as the tester lights up when he puts his tester into this side of the light fitting.

 

He can't lift the floor boards on the first floor as its the bathroom above to check the wiring and exactly which other downlighter its connected to and the bathroom has floor tiles.

 

Question

 

Should both sides i.e. blue and brown both be showing power when light switch is on and no bulb in fitting.

 

What further tests should / can

he perform.

 

Any suggestions why fitting not working or how to resolve problem.

 

I can't understand why its not working so any help would be very much appreciated.

 

 

Phil

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest chris brown

Blue should be neutral and brown live. Check that you have 220v between the two I suspect not, if not then will have to start dropping other lights until you find the one back down the line. The chances are it's just a bad connection at that light

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many thanks will check out

 

You might be correct as my lad says when testing on the brown the tester lights up bright and when testing on the blue its dull.

 

guess will have to pop over with my multimeter and check out voltage between both sides of fitting

 

thanks again for suggestion.

 

 

phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also you haven't stated if the lights are 230volt or 12volt , if low voltage fitting you should be able to pull a cylindrical transformer out of the ceiling void ( 30/35 mm diameter x 100/125 long )

Dependant on type of tester "voltage " could show on either side of cable -- brown & blue, depends how far out of balance the supply is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The screwdriver type test light will only light up when it is put onto the positive leg, the reason why its lighting up in the negative leg is because there is no negative supply and you are getting the positive through the light bulb, take the light bulb out and the screwdriver light will go out,

 

Please do me a favour and throw that screwdriver away and buy a volt meter don't need to get an expensive one,

The reason I say that is, if the screwdriver creates a fault internally from misuse ( hit with hammer or thrown into tool box) you could be on the end of a nice shock.

 

I suspect you have got a broken core on the negative, look around where the lights are fitted for brittle or hard to bend wiring caused from the heat off the lights. If you use a muilt meter you will probable see 40 to 50 volts indicating a loss of one of the legs negative or positive.

 

If you are unsure get a sparky in.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Please do me a favour and throw that screwdriver away and buy a volt meter don't need to get an expensive one,

The reason I say that is, if the screwdriver creates a fault internally from misuse ( hit with hammer or thrown into tool box) you could be on the end of a nice shock.

 

If you are unsure get a sparky in.

Couldn't agree more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, most certainly ditch those Neon type screwdrivers. You are intentionally putting yourself at risk with those.

 

They are unreliable and dangerous. All that is between you and mains supply is a tiny gas discharge lamp and dodgy resistor of unknown quality. Mains can certainly arc around these and could give you a fatal shock.

 

If you are unsure about electrics, please don't mess with it, it has a nasty bite ... :)

 

Simon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...