wiring a spotlight after removing fluorescent tube

[laupsek]

Hello,
I've recently removed an old fluorescent strip light from my kitchen to replace it with a more modern spotlight consisting of 4 bulbs. I'd guess that the old light has been there since the 70s or 80s and has a confusing array of paired brown and red wiring making it very difficult for me to assess which are necessary and which are not. (I've managed to blow the mains fuses 3 times now on wiring up the new spotlight.)
Basically, there are 4 pairs of brown/red wires coming from the ceiling, plus a thin solid copper cable, whilst the spotlight has 4 pairs of brown and blue wires.
Which of these wires need to be connected and what's the best way to do it?
Any advice gratefully received.

 

[sparkyspike]

You need to wire up the new light exactly as the old one was. If you can't remember, you'll need a multimeter to ascertain which are the permanent live, switched live and neutral cables. The thin copper cable is possibly the earth cable.

 

[laupsek]

I don't remember which way the light was wired and even so, it would be different to the spotlight wiring as the strip light only had one or 2 pairs of wires coming from it. Is there any other way of discovering which are the primary and which are the slave wires without using a multimeter? (I don't have one.) Incidentally, the wiring here has affected the ceiling lights in other adjacent rooms i.e some will work some won't depending on which configuration of wires we attach together.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Look in the WIKI and the FAQ section of this forum.
The info you need is there, but you will still need some simple test equipment and the knowledge of how to drive it.