[emergency quick!]Pull cord not working

[baza890]

DIY at my friends house, his pull cord stopped working for bathroom light, so i went over and the wires that are coming out the roof was 3 wires and thats neutral, live and earth. got a new pullcord panel, put the earth in the box terminal, neutral into com and live into L1. turned the breaker switch on and pull cord doesn't work still. There's a switch fuse outside the bathroom aswell which I opened up all connections are tight tested with a voltage pen and it lit up perm red showing that theres voltage, but on the pull cord switch i tried it there and nothing comes up. any help? could this be something in the fuse board that tripped but isn't on? i forgot to check that! will check it tomorrow.

 

[UNG]

Did you check the fuse in the switch fuse outside the bathroon was ok, you really need a proper voltage tester a voltage pen is no good as it will pick up any stray voltage

 

[baza890]

Did you check the fuse in the switch fuse outside the bathroon was ok, you really need a proper voltage tester a voltage pen is no good as it will pick up any stray voltage

yeah friend said they replaced the fuse in the fuse switch in the switch said it was popped before they just put one in there. Also yh the voltage pen didn't pick up any voltage at the pull cord pane but at the switch fuse panel it detected voltage it was perm red light, and is it normal to have 3 wires only coming out of the pull cord because i checked a video and they had 2 of each

 

[UNG]

Live looped out of the light fitting to the pull switch and switch wire back to light fitting

 

[HappyHippyDad]

Hi Baza,

No offence chap, but just from the fact you think you've got a neutral and a live and you've put the one you thought was a neutral in the com, means you're really not too sure what you are doing.

It'll cost maybe £60 to get an electrician out to fit a new one and then you can rest assured it's been done safely.

 

[baza890]

Hi Baza,

No offence chap, but just from the fact you think you've got a neutral and a live and you've put the one you thought was a neutral in the com, means you're really not too sure what you are doing.

It'll cost maybe £60 to get an electrician out to fit a new one and then you can rest assured it's been done safely.

what do u mean i think, its 100% a blue neutral wire that i put into the com the other wire is a brown one which is live i put that into L1 and the earth into the earthing terminal

 

[baza890]

Live looped out of the light fitting to the pull switch and switch wire back to light fitting

havn't opened up the lightbulb, just tried the switch fuse and the pullcord switch atm, not sure if its got anything to do with the light bulb wiring itself cause it's the pullcord switch that they said stopped working

 

[UNG]

havn't opened up the lightbulb, just tried the switch fuse and the pullcord switch atm, not sure if its got anything to do with the light bulb wiring itself cause it's the pullcord switch that they said stopped working

You are trying to find a fault so you cannot assume or dismiss anything until you have tested it and proved it

 

[baza890]

ok so I went over got new pull cord and put the neutral(blue) into the com, the brown wire into L1 and earth into earthing terminal and vuala works

 

[DPG]

ok so I went over got new pull cord and put the neutral(blue) into the com, the brown wire into L1 and earth into earthing terminal and vuala works

Very important to realise that you very likely do not have a neutral at the switch.

Good that it is now working though. But I thought you had already tried a new switch?

 

[Markyd]

what do u mean i think, its 100% a blue neutral wire that i put into the com the other wire is a brown one which is live i put that into L1 and the earth into the earthing terminal

If its 100% a neutral why the hell are you putting it into the com....GET A SPARKY

 

[pirate]

When you click on the reply box it says Reply here, but be nice...
Which is why I refrained from replying to post#9
#4 by @UNG clearly should have signalled to the OP that his terminology was incorrect and the blue wire was not a neutral and a switch would not join a live and neutral in the way the OP was thinking.
I'm a little surprised that a trainee hasn't been taught how a light switch can be wired, but it may be very early days, however diving in with no knowledge is seldom effective.

 

[UNG]

When you click on the reply box it says Reply here, but be nice...
Which is why I refrained from replying to post#9
#4 by @UNG clearly should have signalled to the OP that his terminology was incorrect and the blue wire was not a neutral and a switch would not join a live and neutral in the way the OP was thinking.
I'm a little surprised that a trainee hasn't been taught how a light switch can be wired, but it may be very early days, however diving in with no knowledge is seldom effective.

Begining to wonder what I had said when I read the first line and saw my name in the post

 

[HappyHippyDad]

what do u mean i think, its 100% a blue neutral wire that i put into the com the other wire is a brown one which is live i put that into L1 and the earth into the earthing terminal

It's a switch live Baz not a neutral. Blue doesn't always mean neutral. Glad it's working chap. Trial and error probably isn't the best approach to electrics though.

 

[baza890]

It's a switch live Baz not a neutral. Blue doesn't always mean neutral. Glad it's working chap. Trial and error probably isn't the best approach to electrics though.

yh i knew it's called that but idk i just tried to keep it simple i guess or idk just didn't feel confident in saying its a switch live lol, I haven't touched electrics in 3-4 years so just getting back into things