Discuss Light switch not working. Light permanently on in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

Reaction score
0
Hi all,

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

I have installed a new light and now it stays permanently on. I have removed the switch and even if the cables are seperated the light remains on. I have used a continuity tester and one of the cables leads to the junction but the other does not. It is old wiring and there are green red and black wires coming from the ceiling into the junction. Any ideas?
 
a simple job for an electrician. each cable needs identifying and then the connections made correctly. time to open your wallet. i'm afraid.but should not cost more than about £50, if you post your location, one of us may be close.
 
a simple job for an electrician. each cable needs identifying and then the connections made correctly. time to open your wallet. i'm afraid.but should not cost more than about £50, if you post your location, one of us may be close.
What he said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
Hi OP.
Any chance of posting some pics of the light and the wiring that you did. Of course while making sure it is electrically safe to do so.
Why remove the switch if you haven't touched the switch wiring.
 
Why did you touch it?
Did it work before you touched it?
Have you disturbed, touched altered anything other than the light and switch?

As post 2, it's an easy fix when onsite, but not via the internet.
It's suffering a common mistake made by less experienced persons.
 
Light switch not working. Light permanently on {filename} | ElectriciansForums.net


Sounds like you've connected your unswitched lives with your switched live.
 
I've changed my mind. It's not a nice diagram.

There's the aforementioned blue that should have some identifying sleeving on it (brown, or red, or grey. anything but blue or g/y)

The cables should have conductors coming out in the order of brown, g/y, then blue... or reverse of that. The g/y shouldn't be at the edge of a cable. (unless these lights are wired in white flex)

The brown going down the flex to the light lampholder should be connected to the outermost terminal.
 
I've changed my mind. It's not a nice diagram.

There's the aforementioned blue that should have some identifying sleeving on it (brown, or red, or grey. anything but blue or g/y)

The cables should have conductors coming out in the order of brown, g/y, then blue... or reverse of that. The g/y shouldn't be at the edge of a cable. (unless these lights are wired in white flex)

The brown going down the flex to the light lampholder should be connected to the outermost terminal.
ooooh, icky picky. it's a diagram, not a photo. :(:(:(.
 
ooooh, icky picky. it's a diagram, not a photo. :(:(:(.

The cables should enter from the rear
The ceiling rose cover looks as if its just a ring of plastic,no centre and no thread to screw it on to the base(after those cables are shifted :)
 
Light switch not working. Light permanently on {filename} | ElectriciansForums.net


Sounds like you've connected your unswitched lives with your switched live.
It sounds like it yes, but I wouldn't advise the OP to try and correct it him/herself. Assuming the conductors aren't marked or sleeved the switch wire needs to be correctly identified which (unless obvious) will require testing, safely.
In my experience people with limited knowledge of electrics wrongly assume the brown is live and the blue is neutral in all cases.
A competent electrician will (assuming all is ok with the existing wiring) sort this out in a few minutes and charge a nominal fee.
 
Hi all,

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

I have installed a new light and now it stays permanently on. I have removed the switch and even if the cables are seperated the light remains on. I have used a continuity tester and one of the cables leads to the junction but the other does not. It is old wiring and there are green red and black wires coming from the ceiling into the junction. Any ideas?
You are out of your depth with this simple problem, stay away from electrics and get some in who knows what they are doing.
 

Reply to Light switch not working. Light permanently on in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc

Electrical Forum

Welcome to the Electrical Forum at ElectriciansForums.net. The friendliest electrical forum online. General electrical questions and answers can be found in the electrical forum.
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock