Need help guys

[platforminc]

Hi All

I'm glad I found this site, and a big shout out to all electricians and helpers out there.

I have a small problem, I helped my mum fit the kitchen light few days ago as the kitchen was dark and not nice, I replaced the circular flourescent lighting which was there before with a new one that I bought from wickes, please see Aro Flush Ceiling Light - Flush Lights - Lighting -Decorating & Interiors - Wickes

After fitting, it appeared straight forward enough, tested a few times everything worked fine. To my surprise, I got called in the evening to say that the lights on the second floor of the house stopped working, so lights to 2 rooms on second floor including bathroom, thinking it was a typical fuse issue, I swapped the 5AMPS fuse around and they all appear to work, which led me to believe any of the 3 x 5 AMP fuses were not faulty. I cannot think of anything else why the 3 lights on second floor of a 2 story town house will suddenly stop working and all I can say that has changed is simply the addition of the new light that I just bought. I also checked the bulbs, all seem fine without any problem as I swapped it at bulb points which aren't affected.


Any ideas anyone.

Thanks in advance.

 

[DNS1]

I'm assuming the lights are all on the same circuit and not split upstairs and downstairs.

Just sounds like you've not reconnected everything properly in the new fitting, so everything on the circuit after the kitchen is dead as a dodo...

 

[Guest112]

agree its obviously beyond the point where you altered the circuit turn power off and open the fitting you changed youll prob see a cable that you didnt connect properly

 

[Des 56]

Another check that you can make,in case of connection problems
Make sure that the feed to the other lights were actually connected to the feed at the kitchen light and not via the switched feed

Put the kitchen light on and then try the other 2 lights

 

[platforminc]

Thanks guys
What I done was to take out the old kitchen light whose bulb was gone, after which the light pendant cable coming from the old light was connected to the new light

Brown: Live
Blue: Neutral
Yellow: Earth

It looked simple enough, also the kitchen light didnt have like any kind of junction or anything attached to it. That junction where you get 2 lives and the other serving as a loop is on the first floor set of lights, which plays up atimes you have to press press the switch twice atimes, I wonder if there is a problem with the loop on teh first floor ceiling which goes upstairs, irony is that I was told this was all working before I changed kitchen light. So maybe I will remove kitchen light that I fitted and see what happens.
Anyone agree ?

 

[Octopus]

Try post #4 before you take it apart again.

 

[telectrix]

there's obioiusly a bad connection somewhere. could be a JB under the floor or in a fitting. you will need to trace the wiring from start to finish till you find the fault. be aware that the fault could be on the neutral, so although you may have a "live" at each point, you may be missing the neutral.

 

[Rockingit]

I'm with the other posts in that it's almost certainly a mis-connection in replacing the lamp, but if it's fed from the switch then it's more a mystery. When you say 'yellow', do you mean G/Y or just a pure yellow? Is there two-way switching in the kitchen??

 

[platforminc]

Thanks everyone, just to answer the questions.
I switched on the kitchen light and the lights in the topmost floor didnt come in, didnt seem to make a difference.

The cable I'm talking about is green & yellow to answer post #8. Also the kitchen light is just a single switch also the white thing which gets screwed on the ceiling and serves as a junction etc was plastered over by the base about 2-3 yrs ago when the ceiling got replastered, so I couldnt turn it around (plastic threading) to open it and check the connection unfortunately, as its very hard what I did is that the white 3 core cable which has (yellow/green, blue & brown) that came out of it, I simple connected that to the new light even without opening the white round stuff in the ceiling.

Please advice on what I should do next.

 

[Octopus]

Call an electrician.

Where abouts are you?

 

[electromonkey]

It reads to me that your switch/loops are done via a jb or terminal blocks somewhere, likely above your kitchen light fitting seeing as you only have three cables coming to that fitting. Turn the power off and check. If there is, check the connections.

I'm with Murdoch though, tell your Mum not to be stingy and call a spark, they're likely to do a free visual inspection of your fuseboard set up and earth bonding too.

While you're at it, have a read of the thread I posted 5 mins ago.

Cheers

 

[platforminc]

It reads to me that your switch/loops are done via a jb or terminal blocks somewhere, likely above your kitchen light fitting seeing as you only have three cables coming to that fitting. Turn the power off and check. If there is, check the connections.

I'm with Murdoch though, tell your Mum not to be stingy and call a spark, they're likely to do a free visual inspection of your fuseboard set up and earth bonding too.

While you're at it, have a read of the thread I posted 5 mins ago.

Cheers

Can you point me to the thread you posted 15 mins ago ?
I'm based in South London.

I seem to recall having this issue years back, and it turned out that the living room lighting which is 2nd floor room is above it had a loop cable loose which supplied the lights upstrairs, that then stopped the lights upstairs from working. Not sure if thesame problem now, and dont quite understand why it is that when I changed the kitchen lamps that this issue came up.

 

[electromonkey]

If your fitting is wired with a jb above the ceiling where your fitting was with the switched live, neutral and earth coming from it (the 3 cables to disconnected then re connected) it is likely that you may have inadvertently removed one of the loops taking the supply to the lights on the rest of the circuit or disconnected the returning neutral.

 

[platforminc]

If your fitting is wired with a jb above the ceiling where your fitting was with the switched live, neutral and earth coming from it (the 3 cables to disconnected then re connected) it is likely that you may have inadvertently removed one of the loops taking the supply to the lights on the rest of the circuit or disconnected the returning neutral.

Hmmn, please clarify what JB means please for my benefit.
What suprises me is that as the kitchen is the ground floor, one would have thought this should affect the middle floor and also topmost floor. Isnt that how electricals are wired ? just my own thought.

So what i am saying is that, within a standard wiring, would there be a dependency on kitchen from topmost floor light, I thought middle floor depends on kitchen and 2nd floor depends on first floor (middle floor).
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm assuming JB means the white round stuff, if I have not opened it at all because its stuck, I'm wondering how I could have disconnected a cable. just a bit of a mystery to me. Learning at thesame time.

 

[Specialist]

Hi: JB is Junction Box, we could tell you how it's supposed to be wired but without any of us having seen it, it's impossible to say exactly how it's been wired by the Original Electrician. It sounds like it really is time to call in a proper Electrician to be honest.

 

[electromonkey]

JB - A junction box. I was referring to the cables being connected together somewhere other than the light fitting.

You're house may not have been wired in the most conventional manner. If it hasn't been re wired in the last 10 years then the circuits could be spread all over the place to be honest.

 

[platforminc]

Yes it hasnt been rewired over last 10 yrs, its got the old stuff which doesnt comply with latest electrical wiring specification.

 

[platforminc]

Just a bit of an update guys, I took out the kitchen lights and the problem till did exist, I then used a tester to see if there is any current on the light circuit, none at all. Checked a few of the loops one on same floor, one downstairs in the living room and one by the landing in the stairs and the loops all look right but yet 3 set of lights wouldn't work still.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Just a bit of an update guys, I took out the kitchen lights and the problem till did exist, I then used a tester to see if there is any current on the light circuit, none at all. Checked a few of the loops one on same floor, one downstairs in the living room and one by the landing in the stairs and the loops all look right but yet 3 set of lights wouldn't work still.

You need to get an electrician to sort it!!