hello all, i hope you can help.
i am trying to fit a new light fitting which is basically a block of 3 halogen lights. the light fitting has therefore 3 neutral and 3 live + 1 earth together with a white connector block. the 3 neutral are all tied into 1 terminal in the block, same with the 3 live, and earth goes into 1. there is a spare empty 4th terminal in the block.
i want to replace our old light in the hall. the hall has 2 independent switches that can operate this 1 light.
i took apart the ceiling rose and took all the wires out. there appears to be 3 pairs of live/neutral sheathed in white, + 1 independent earth.
i notice that with all these wires dangling out of the ceiling that no lighting occurs in the kitchen.
I thought to myself that it would be easy, and so I twisted all 3 lives and all 3 neutrals and matched them into the connector block of the light fitting.
when i put the mains back on the light worked without any of the wall switches being on.
i pressed a wall switch to see if it turned it off but doing that seemed to blow a fuse, the light went off and the switch on the wall did not work any longer (i.e. the spring seems to not click up or down - i guess the fuse in there is gone).
i disconnected that switch and the light overhead worked again. i then used the other wall switch - same thing happened, it's blown.
i understand only slightly the concept of a loop-in. i don't know how to work out which is the switch wire, and i don't know how to link all these wires in the ceiling to the light fitting i have .. i can't use the traditional loop in type connector block as all i have is a white connector block with 4 terminals.
i do have a dc reader if this will help me but when i used it, it only showed me which red/black combo was live .. is that the black switch? do i need to route the switch cable into the 4th empty terminal on the light fitting connector block?
hope this is enough info. i'd rather attempt this myself if possible.