DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi, I was wondering how the devil I should tackle this beast as to be honest I have removed the old light fitting to be meet with what is a snakes wedding. Can anybody help with what wires should go where?
Currently there seems to be 4 wires of each colour, with two of the black wires with a white sleeve? And nothing of a red collar or markings in sight.

Hopefully the photo paints a better understanding of what I have.

Quite straight forward really, the two black wires with white sleeves, are the live switch wires, they go together in the live terminal of the fitting. Normally these should have red sleeves on, but it looks like it's heat protection.

The 2 black wires are the neutrals, they go together in the neutral terminal.
One of the cable looks damaged slightly, this needs covering up with some tape or cutting back if there's enough cable spare.

the bunch of reds are the live loop & the live feed to the switch, leave these as they are, make sure the connection is tight in the block.

the green & yellow are the earth, they go to the earth terminal of the fitting.

chriscba wrote:Quite straight forward really, the two black wires with white sleeves, are the live switch wires, they go together in the live terminal of the fitting.

Sorry, I do not agree.

You do not have 2 "Switch wires" you only need the one.
Even if it was a supply to a second light operated by the same switch it should be a red wire for live and black for neutral.

I would say there is more to this than we are aware of.
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Paul9616

Sadly there is no definitive configuration for connecting most things. We like to stick by the "Known colours" but its not always the case. I am also suspicious as to why use heat resistant sleeving ..............unless it came with the fitting you have removed, in which case the two blacks may have been switched live and neutral, as the fitting would get hot who ever installed it used the provided sleeving (we will never know)

Also the fact there are 4 cables implies there is either another light in the same room or it has been spurred to feed something else.

Without it physically being checked by a competent person all any one can do is guess (Because of what I said at the start) I there for suggest you call some one to look at it for you.