German Lamp with Black/White wires

[russ8585]

Hi All,


Looking for some help.

I brought a custom made lamp from Germany and I asked if it could be fitted with a UK plug. The lamp arrived today with said plug and just out of interest I decided to take a look inside. There are only 2 wires (Black and White). The Black was connected to neutral and White to Live. The wiring wasnt very neat, so I decided to take it apart. I went back to the seller to ask which cable is which. He's come back and said Black is Live and White is neutral (opposite to the way it was done). He also said he tested it and it worked fine.


Is there a way to check which is the true Live and neutral? I'm just wondering if the whole lamp maybe wired backwards. Would the lamp work when tested if wired backwards? (and just be unsafe). My concern is the seller may have just fitted a UK plug without really understanding them. It came with a 13A fuse too. I want to keep the lamp but I need it to be safe.

 

[flameport]

Black and white are wiring colours used in North America where items are designed for 120 volts.
Not something that would be normally found in Germany or anywhere else in Europe.

What type of lampholders does the light have?
Are there any markings on the lampholders, switches or other parts to indicate the voltage it's designed for?
Is the lamp CE marked?

 

[ericmark]

White and black is USA not Germany but with class II i.e. no earth as long as centre contact is live if using screw bulb then OK.

 

[russ8585]

The is no marks on the outside. There is a CE mark on the inside.

 

[flameport]

That CE mark is just for the lampholder, not the product as a whole.

Possible that they are Class II lampholders and don't require an earth connection, but the product as a whole might require an earth connection, all depends on what it's made of and how it's been constructed.

He also said he tested it and it worked fine.

It's entirely possible for things to work and be dangerous.
CE marking is mandatory, so is providing instructions on how to use the product, and plenty more such as using the proper colours of flex.

As the seller of the item hasn't bothered with any of those, the only assumption is that the device is dangerous and cannot be used.

 

[just pumps]

Could the wiring and the lanp holder not be replaced safely.

 

[Jackrae]

Neither of you photographs inspires confidence in the manufacturer. a) How is strain relief effected where the cord enters the lamp holder - clearly the fancy 'cloth' braiding will have been removed and b) what did the damage at the ends of the cores

For the vendor to say he tested it and it worked fine simply means the bulb lit when powered up. It certainly doesn't mean it was correctly assembled or safe.

 

[Lumo]

In pre harmonized German wiring black was live and blue was neutral (at least in the West). I don't think white was ever used (red as an earth sometimes, but that might have been stuff that came from the East). The lamp does seem to have US colours but that black used to be live in Germany may be why the seller wired black as live or assumed black was live. Of course with Gemran plugs polarity doesn't matter so much as it depends which way it is plugged in so the seller may also not have been used to polarity in plugs.

 

[winston1]

Going back to post 1 in the US wiring code black is live and white is neutral. Although the US uses 120v the same colours are found in some 220v countries that use the US plugs. Using US colours is not actually dangerous but it might be a good idea to sleeve the ends blue and brown.

 

[russ8585]

I've tidyed up the wires and attached it black to live, white to neutral. Also switched to a 3amp fuse. My gut feeling is the seller didn't understand UK plugs and wired it backwards when he swapped it from a euro one. Everything seems to be working fine.