Help needed win outdoor light!

iqmdublin

Broke a light as I was walking past with a ladder today, side alley of a house, thing was literally touched and the smashed into a zillion pieces.....

Anyway, got a replacement light as the lighting place didn't have covers for the old one.

The old fitting had space for 4 wires, the new one only has space for 2, plus the earth.
The light is part of a row of 3.

There's 2 blue wires, 2 brown wires, and earth.

The lighting store guy said just twist the brown together, and the blue together and try that - it trips the switch inside.....

Have to go back tomorrow, and try to figure it out... Thinking maybe to use the
old lightbulb fitting and mount that inside the new light casing somehow

Adding photos now!

iqmdublin

Here's the 4 wires, with the new fitting which only takes 2......

Needles73

Are you sure absolutely no part of the bare copper on the blue or brown wires are touching the metal bracket/holder ? Are the lights only turned on by a single switch or is there a sensor ?

hufpc8w3adnk65

If you take the bulb out and switch on the switch does it trip?

meercat

put the 2 blue wires together in a connector block
put the 2 brown wires together in a connector block

(try switching lights on and see do other fittings light up)

if they do then switch off again and

bring a single wire from each connector to the terminals of new fitting

switch lights back on again and hopefully all will work



its really difficult to get 2 cables into those terminations(especially twisted)

iqmdublin

Needles73 wrote: »

Are you sure absolutely no part of the bare copper on the blue or brown wires are touching the metal bracket/holder ? Are the lights only turned on by a single switch or is there a sensor ?

I had to strip them back a bit, there would be par touching the metal bracket....
Non-electrician though, but im guessing that's a no no?
And the switched on by a switch inside the house, no sensor

iqmdublin

MrMac84 wrote: »

If you take the bulb out and switch on the switch does it trip?

Didn't try! I only put it all together and asked the owner to try it once, and it tripped the board : /

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

iqmdublin wrote: »

I had to strip them back a bit, there would be par touching the metal bracket....
Non-electrician though, but im guessing that's a no no?
And the switched on by a switch inside the house, no sensor

If you have bare copper from those cables all making contact with a metal bracket, I'd be very confident that that's why it's tripping out.

Needles73

Yes any one of the blue or brown (copper part) wires touching the metal plate is a "no-no". The advise to use a strip connector and have carefully trimmed single cables into lamp holder will work

iqmdublin

Hmm. Problem is it's an incredibly short cable already, so I can't cut off the ends.
Duct tape be ok you think?

And should I leave the wires connected the way they are ( all mashed together), or best to try using the old connector? (And connect each of the 4 wires separately)
Or option 3 would be to only connect 1 of the Browns and one of the blues, and have the other 2 hanging loose with some tape on the ends....?

Needles73

Don't use tape. The cables are not that short. I'd go and get a strip connector and do it properly. You could pick up a small bit of extra cable and a strip connector in most hardware stores. You cannot leave wires dangling...Both blue need to be joined and likewise both brown.....This is a tiny job but still needs to be left safe

meercat

iqmdublin wrote: »

Hmm. Problem is it's an incredibly short cable already, so I can't cut off the ends.
Duct tape be ok you think?

And should I leave the wires connected the way they are ( all mashed together), or best to try using the old connector? (And connect each of the 4 wires separately)
Or option 3 would be to only connect 1 of the Browns and one of the blues, and have the other 2 hanging loose with some tape on the ends....?

read my post again
use new wire from connector block to light terminations

Needles73

This is an example of what Meercat is advising. I've just shown the blue but do the same with brown. Surely you have some cable lying around...? My bulb holder for demonstration only !!

meercat

good man needles

What the guys suggested seems best way out of it, if you have no spare wire though, just unscrew the bulb holder from the bracket (makes it Alot easier to push two wires in)then snip the copper bit so they are not so long....then push wires through the hole in bracket and into bulb holder then put screws back into bracket making sure no copper is exposed.
But that's just if you can't find a little bit of wire to do what lads suggested

iqmdublin

Ah, got it!

It won't be an issue seeing as it's only 1 of 3 lights, and the other 2 on the wall at connected differently?

I was gonna call an electrician if I couldn't manage, but I only charged €35 for the job I was doing on the house, minus the cost of the new light and 1.5 hours labour (fitting the new light and painting the concrete!), so I thought an electrician would be another €80 minimum

(Thanks for all the help by the way!)

Needles73

If you wire it as advised and have none of the cable copper bits of the blue and brown touching the metal bracket all the lights "should" work normal

iqmdublin

Done!

Got some extra wire and a connector yokey, all workin!

Thanks for the help!

Needles73

Good stuff !