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    scottyearl's Avatar
    scottyearl Posts: 3, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Jun 12, 2009, 03:18 PM
    Fitting a fluorescent strip light
    Hi guys,

    Basically my set up is, 3 wires coming out of the ceiling, each wire has its own blue, brown and pure copper core (no flex), I assume these are neutral, live and earth.

    Also 2 of the brown wires are connected into one of those grey electrical connectors/joiners with the pins to screw the wire down in place.

    Basically the old light that was there is identical but was taken down without me having the chance to look at it properly to see what goes where, so now I'm a bit stuck. Ive tried putting the 3 neutrals in the neutral terminal on the light and the 3 earths in the earth terminal, with the one remaining live wire in the live terminal, but the light still won't work, however the lights behind it in the circuit (I assume it to be setup like a loop in circuit) now work where as before when the wires were not connected up to anything, none of those lights would turn on.

    Anyone who can give me a hand here I would be truly grateful, here's a diagram I drew the best I could, there were a few more wires within the light itself running between the connectors and various components inside but I can't remember the exacts of them so left them out.

    Diagram >>> http://i41.tinypic.com/i1i691.jpg
    scottyearl's Avatar
    scottyearl Posts: 3, Reputation: 1
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    #2

    Jun 12, 2009, 03:20 PM

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    tkrussell's Avatar
    tkrussell Posts: 9,659, Reputation: 725
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    #3

    Jun 13, 2009, 03:48 AM
    You are correct that blue is neutral, brown is live, and bare is earth. What needs to be done is using a voltage tester is to determine which browns are live all the time, which are only live when the switch is on.

    And which core continues onto other lights.

    Keep in mind your dealing with 230-240 volts.

    Only by you testing each core to learn what it does will you be able to figure out how to reconnect this light.
    scottyearl's Avatar
    scottyearl Posts: 3, Reputation: 1
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    #4

    Jun 14, 2009, 02:20 PM
    Sorted now, thanks anyway.

    For future reference if anyone needs this/comes across same job.

    Mains tester screwdriver to identify switched live, then:

    Switched live (blue) -> live terminal on light,
    Remaining 2 neutrals (blue) -> neutral terminal on light,
    All grounds (bare core) -> ground terminal on light,
    All lives (brown) -> in a separate connector away from the light, together.
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