Something silly.

[trowelandhawk]

hello.

Straight to the point... I have changed some spot lights in a room and when I went into the loft I was met with a transformer that was wired a bit special... see below photo...

The white cable above the earths is from the room prior, the middle is for the pull switch in the room I’m working on and the left white cable is the room on from this. I put all this into a junction box and fed a cable from this into a 3into1 click box and then this fed to the three spots.
Here is my dilemma.. I put it all together and it blows the fuse on the board when I pull the switch. I took out the pull switch cord to see it works on the ring, and it does, all lights working correctly. I put the switch cable back into junction box, lights work, pull cable to turn off and it blows again.

It’s obviously too late to continue and I’m thinking it’s something silly.

Should I replace the old switch cable as that way I will know that is wired correctly and not lost in transit like the rest of the wiring I seen in my house.

Any suggestions ?.

Many thanks.

 

[securespark]

You put all the blacks together and all the reds together.

That's not how it is in the picture.

Put it this way, the reds you connected to the rearranged light fittings....are they connected to the light fitting in that picture?

The reds go together with each other but not connected to the light fitting.

The two blacks (neutrals) go together on one side of the fitting.

The other black (NOT A NEUTRAL, but the live return from the switch) goes to the other side of the light fitting.

You're not turning the light off when pulling the cord, you're turning it ON.

This causes the black to become live and short together with the other blacks which are neutrals.

 

[sparkwright]

Have you removed the old transformer? Assuming your new lights do not require this.

Have you wired the junction box correctly? Assuming you know there will be four terminals in the jb to connect wires to.

Why have you not sent pictures of this junction box?

 

[trowelandhawk]

Sorry I may not have explained this correctly. The picture of the wires all twisted together is what I saw when I lifted the insulation. I put all the ends of the wiring into a 30 amp junction box ( the reds together, blacks together and neutrals together). The switch cable too went in there. The new spots are 240v and do not require a transformer and are sealed led units. The junction box has 4 in line terminals... I have a spare one (doesn’t sound right now). I haven’t taken photo as I was down from loft as too late.
Many thanks for helping to all
Will post photo in morning.

 

[Taylortwocities]

blacks together

That's your problem. They may be black, but one of them is a different sort of black. Securespark has told you what you did wrong. Its a common mistake.
PS As well as connecting it wrong, you also may have knackered your switch.

 

[sparkwright]

Then you have connected it wrongly, and have not copied the way it was originally connected.

See Securespark's comments to rectify this.

 

[trowelandhawk]

have been reading securesparks post re wiring and made the classic mistake ..tiredness .. not acceptable I know.

So the pull switch wire ..... red in the red terminal, earth in the earth terminal and black in the loop ??.

 

[trowelandhawk]

Actually.. I need to sleep and start a fresh.

 

[Lectrician]

It was wired correctly in the picture, just very poorly done. You have tidied it up, but wired it incorrectly.

 

[trowelandhawk]

Ok, just finished... well the electrics anyway!.
As you all mentioned yesterday I had not used the loop... k**b head. First time for everything I suppose. Again... not acceptable in a safety arena, but a nights sleep sorted that problem along with you guys, many thanks.