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Confirming old wiring in pendant light fitting

Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 4:58 pm
by Simonvr
I'm trying to replace a pendant light fitting but am struggling to confirm if old wiring is correct.
I was assuming I could just replace the live/brown & neutral/blue wires from the fitting - however bot sure if the 3 incoming cables seem to be correctly wired?
1.red going to neutral & black to loop
2. red to loop & black to live
3. red to loop & black to live
(not sure which one is the switch wire?)
Am I being thick or shouldn't red be going to Live & the black to neutral ??

Fitting wires go as expected - blue to Neutral & brown to live

I'm sure I've read somewhere that the wiring can be put in wrongly but it will still work(even with polority reversed?) - on a bayonet fitting - which the old pendant was - but the new one is a crew in.
Either way I'd like to make sure it is wired correctly going forward

If needs changing can you confirm which wired (1,2 or 3) need changing & how.
Thanks
Simon

Re: Confirming old wiring in pendant light fitting

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 12:13 am
by Mr White
If you are referring to the ceiling rose with your description, you can not say what anything is by its colour, as it was working before, then all you need to do is change the pendant lamp flex and holder.

Re: Confirming old wiring in pendant light fitting

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 12:37 pm
by Simonvr
Thanks for the reply - yes it is the ceiling rose. Does it not make a difference that I am changing from a bayonet to a screw fitting(if the polarity is wrong?)?

Re: Confirming old wiring in pendant light fitting

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 9:43 pm
by Mr White
In theory the centre pin should be live and the screw thread of the lamp should be neutral. Someone came up with the idea of making the thread in the lamp holder in two parts, so only the bottom part would be energised, no one told the lamp manufacturers this so despite the good intention the whole of the thread becomes energised, so the next step was to use a smaller thread that you can not get your fingers into.