changing my outside light fitting

[scotty dog]

please can someone help? The other day I changed my outside light fitting. The house is only 2 years old, & I've been in it about 10 months. The old light was a 12 watt piazza light. I removed it, & I have 3 wires coming from the wall: 1 red, 1 black, & 1 green/yellow. From the new light I have: 1 brown, 1 blue, & 1 green/yellow. I connected it up, brown to red, black to blue, & green/yellow to green/yellow, screwed in the sixty watt bulb, & flicked the mcb back on. It tripped instantly. Now my light wont work. For some reason the light has no switch. It is run straight off a PIR. The PIR is clicking on & off, but the light wont light. Please can someone tell me why the mcb tripped. I wired the exact same light up to the back garden, & it works fine. ( no PIR at the back, just a switch). I've bought another light but dont want to wire it up yet, incase I do the same. PLEASE HELP!!! cheers.

 

[Softus]

Perhaps the bulb was damaged in transit, and burned out in the first moments of use.

 

[scotty dog]

i've tried it with a bulb i know works, but still nothing. I've also tried a normal bayonet light fitting, but nothing there either.

 

[Softus]

In that case something has fused inside the lamp or the PIR, and the inrush at the moment of fusing tripped the MCB.

At a guess...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The old light was a 12 watt piazza light.

I.. screwed in the sixty watt bulb...

I wonder what the PIR was rated at?

 

[securespark]

The old light was a 12 watt piazza light.

Does he mean 12 volt?

 

[scotty dog]

what size bulb should i fit, as i dont know what the pir is rated at?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Dunno - all we know so far is that a 12W was OK, and a 60W might have b*gg*r*d it.

Was the 12W one working before you removed it? Do you still have it? If you put it back, does it still work?

 

[scotty dog]

yes the old light worked before I removed it, but its a new light fitting, with a standard screw in 60 watt bulb. The old fitting had a 12 watt push in bulb, shaped like an M

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Try swapping the fitting back and see if it still works.

Or try getting a new PIR.

Mind you - I don't think anybody makes a PIR that can't cope with a 60W load.....

 

[scotty dog]

i've put the old fitting in the bin!!!

 

[Softus]

Are you able to measure the output from the PIR as it switches on and off?

 

[scotty dog]

the pir still works, as i can hear it clicking on & off. One thing I have noticed is a fitting inside the house (behind where the outside light is, but at floor level) with a blanking plate on it. do you think that could be the switch for the light.

 

[Steve]

One thing I have noticed is a fitting inside the house (behind where the outside light is, but at floor level) with a blanking plate on it. do you think that could be the switch for the light.

no. its a blanking plate. not a switch. Its probably a junction box for something.

WTF is a pizza light? i'm thinking a flat round lamp of some sort . . .

 

[scotty dog]

yes it is about 9" round, & it had a 16 watt fluorescent bulb in it