DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi I'm new and need a little help please.

I have a set of spot lights for my kitchen with 3 spots, these all wire in to one 3 way connector, all the blue in to one hole, the brown in to another and that is it.

however

from my ceiling I have 3 cables all with 3 wires, so I have 9 wires, 3 red, 3 black and 3 all copper, I bunched all the red together and connected, bunched all the black togther and connected, and bunch all the cooper (which I assumed was the earth wires) together and connected, I turned the electric on and the lights came on, when I turned the lights off the fuse blew,

now I had already once wired these up but the way i;d wired them I lost connection to the light in the downstairs bathroom.

plus the light fitting has no actually earth wire or seperate connection for an earth wire, so can anyone help me at all please. many thanks in advance

Hi pablomozza,
What you have is:
3 reds as follows;
1 no incoming live/line from a previous light
1 no outgoing live/line to next light on circuit
1 no switch wire supplying the live/line to the switch
3 no blacks as follows;
1 no incoming neutral supply from previous light
1 no outgoing neutral to next light on circuit
1 no switch wire return live/line via switch to light (should be tagged with red flag or sleave)
3 no Earths (circuit protective conductors is correct name cpc for short)

Firstly, all your cpc's should be terminated together and insulated with green and yellow sleaving (buy some) This keeps continuity with the earthing system (Some lights if made of plastic or double insulated may not have earth terminal so use a connector block for this purpose)

Then all reds terminated together, this will ensure live supply to switch and next lights on circuit.

Now for the tricky bit that most diyers get wrong.
The two neutrals incoming and outgoing are connected together at the blue flex side of your light fitting.
The black cable that is returning from the switch is terminated at brown flex side of light fitting remember to tag this for future idendification.
If you look on projects pages under lighting you may find diagrams of this, I understand they have been updated and are quite informative.
Remember stay safe and isolate the circuit you are working on and prove it is dead before you carry out work. I want you to be about to tell me how you have done.
Regards
KB