DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Apologies for posting what seems to be a fairly commonly asked question but all the replies to the threads I saw say to look at the projects but the projects I found didn't help much...

I'm replacing a wall light and am confused as to which wires I need to connect to which terminals on the fitting. The projects I looked at a switch terminal in the light but I've only got 2 terminals, one Neutral and one Live.

From the wall I have 2 sets of wires - one set with Red, Black and Earth and another with Red, Black (live with a red marker) and Earth.

the earths were already bound together with a green and yellow sheath so I've ignored those as theres no earth terminal on the light fitting.

What to I connect where? I've done a diagram for which I've put a link below, I'd really appreciate it if someone could tell me which wires I connect to each terminal!

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/1936/drawing2un1.gif

What were they connected to before, i.e. on the old wall light?

It sounds like what you've got is the end of a loop-in lighting circuit, so the straight red/black cable is the loop, and the one with the red/black-sleeved-red is the switch cable.

If this is the case then obviously you join the two reds, and connect the black and the sleeved black to the N & L respectively of the light. But you really should check it out with your multimeter first to make sure that's what the cables are.

And BTW - when you say "[i]the earths were already bound together with a green and yellow sheath[/i]" I do hope you don't mean that they were just twisted together.....

Thanks for the help, will try that when I get a bit of time.

I didn't take the sheath off the earths to see what has inside to be honest. What should be done with them if they're not used?

They must be properly connected together using a bit of choc-block, not just twisted. Even if the wall-light doesn't need an earth, a different one in the future might, and if the back-box for the switch is metal, or the switch itself is, then this needs an earth as well.

The back plate of the light is metal - the instructions that came with says it doesn't have earth as it's double insulated (theres 2 plastics casings that go over the bit where the terminals are)