Another one for the leckies..

[WorkshopChris]

and they all come on dim

wall lights were only little 15w (Pigmy?)picture lights.

is it me or does that last pic have earth in with live

Will have a closer look, looks like it could all do withe a few feet of green yellow insulation before it goes back.

 

[WorkshopChris]

Nope it's live .....earth.....neutral and a spare.

looks like 2 wires into the earth terminal but only 1 out has one snapped off from one of the cable coming down.

 

[ukracer]

I know it sounds stupid but have you made sure all the bulbs are good, i have once seen wires swapped over while decorating and 3 wall lights in one room were all running through one centre ceiling bulb on the same switch(in series).

I have a known good bulb in each of the two 2 way switch set of lights. I found I had no power when I wired up a new light holder on the single switch the other had broken the glass due to heat........before I put it up I had a feeling it was a supply problem but could not see how that could be possible.

If I read things correctly the live comes via the light in the ceiling as it's linked to the two way switches. (I think)

 

[ukracer]

wall lights were only little 15w (Pigmy?)picture lights.



Will have a closer look, looks like it could all do withe a few feet of green yellow insulation before it goes back.

Yeah I purchased some a few weeks ago ready for my workshop..

 

[ukracer]

looks like 2 wires into the earth terminal but only 1 out has one snapped off from one of the cable coming down.

Nope...it's the way pic is taken. ..

 

[WorkshopChris]

I thought all the bulbs had gone as we have not needed them on for weeks but when I tried them yesterday nothing worked. the external halogen worked fine and that comes from the same lighting circuit.

Do you know where the outside light feeds from?
Always tricky when you do not know what has gone on before in the past.

 

[ukracer]

Do you know where the outside light feeds from?
Always tricky when you do not know what has gone on before in the past.

Same fuse on board...but separate wire to all the others by the looks of it.

 

[the snooper]

How many different circuits won't won't work

 

[ukracer]

How many different circuits won't won't work

It all points to 3 but all fed from the same fuse. which is fine.

 

[ukracer]

purchased one of these but it's not clear if the connectors on the tone unit need to be connected to bare cable or just the wire sheathing round the cable.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

View attachment 90597
purchased one of these but it's not clear if the connectors on the tone unit need to be connected to bare cable or just the wire sheathing round the cable.

That's an oscillator tracer, you use it with an oscillator at the other end of a cable. IMPORTANT! Do not use it on any cable that may have live mains voltage on it!

The tracer and oscillator is designed to be used on telecoms or network cables where the wires are in pairs, you connect the croc clips of the oscillator to a pair of wires in a cable and then go to the other end of the cable and use the tracer to detect that pair.
It won't work if the pair of wires are shorted together.

It's the tool an Openreach engineer would use to find the pair of wires feeding your telephone socket in the street cabinet.

 

[ukracer]

That's an oscillator tracer, you use it with an oscillator at the other end of a cable. IMPORTANT! Do not use it on any cable that may have live mains voltage on it!

The tracer and oscillator is designed to be used on telecoms or network cables where the wires are in pairs, you connect the croc clips of the oscillator to a pair of wires in a cable and then go to the other end of the cable and use the tracer to detect that pair.
It won't work if the pair of wires are shorted together.

It's the tool an Openreach engineer would use to find the pair of wires feeding your telephone socket in the street cabinet.

just my luck. it does come with the oscillator though.

what I was hoping it would do is find out which wire has a break in it. I am probably expecting too much.

I have just turned everything off and redone the connections to the light in the small room.

still nothing. What's annoying is nothing has changed the lights just stopped working. The bulb had actually blown in the small room. But replacing it with known working bulb does not get it working.

The same supply feeds two other lights both of which still have working bulbs in them. But still not lighting. I am at a loss to work out what might have severed a cable ......which is the only logical conclusion. (or where)

That's why I was grasping at straws with the cable finder and checker.........problem is I can't see how a lecky is going to have better lack tracing the hidden wires than I can and every minute is money.

 

[WorkshopChris]

Simple things to check,
With the power off continuity across each switch.
Then with power on and a meter look to see where if anywhere you do have power, so you can identify any without.
It will probably turn out to be a snapped neutral in the last box left to look at.

 

[brightspark]

sorry your not closer id help out. after 45 years and thousands of callouts and wiring faults u soon get to know where things have gone wrong and put them right . chances are they may be a joint box in the circuit somewhere with a loose cable and the current from the bulb blowing has parted it

 

[ukracer]

sorry your not closer id help out. after 45 years and thousands of callouts and wiring faults u soon get to know where things have gone wrong and put them right . chances are they may be a joint box in the circuit somewhere with a loose cable and the current from the bulb blowing has parted it

whatever it is I get the feeling it's gonna be messy to locate a needle in a haystack.
Even my neon screwdriver seems to be *******. Arrggg.

looking at things in the daylight.
It would seem the power runs from the fuse board to the light in the small utility room as there are lots of wires.

The first bank of switches are in the wall of that room. 3 switches.
One is used as a single on off switch.
A live which is looped across to both of the other lights.
I am assuming I will find the black wire next to the empty L2 is the live switched feed and will be in the live in the light in the small room.

what I can't get my head round is the other set of switches at the far end of the large room where they get their neutral from?

I am guessing that will be the two reds in L2 in the first switch.

 

[500e]

Or there is a fuse that has not been found been there as well.
Started life as a sparky in the days of lead sheathed cables & VRI in wood trunking (only worked on it not installing)
Hate to see insulating tape on wire usually hides horrors, hate chocks as well, but understand they are used from new on installations now

 

[WorkshopChris]

Hate to see insulating tape on wire usually hides horrors, hate chocks as well, but understand they are used from new on installations now

http://www.wago.ltd.uk/

These are about the best solution you can get nowadays, i prefer the ones with the orange leavers.Most of the chocks have so little brass in them they crack on the base as soon as you tighten the screw down. Its on my list of things to do to track down a quality manufactured chock block to keep in stock.

 

[dobbslc]

You need a proper voltage measuring device before you go any further. Then turn off the fuse board and take the cover off. Check all the terminations in that lighting circuits breaker, if I'm reading this correctly you have more than one cable coming out of it? Give them all a tugg to see if they're loose.
Also check the neutrals. It's possible the high current of a blown bulb has caused a wire to break or a bad connection to burn and not conduct anymore.
If the utility room still works I would then check the connections in the light fitting and switch as if the live or neutral loop out has failed you won't have any power to the next light in the circuit.
I have to say the wiring on that light looks a bit monkey to me so suspect everything, there could be a hidden junction box somewhere that's got a bad connection too.
You have to start at the beginning and work your way through each fitting and switch until you find something.
You must have a decent voltage indicator before you start. Be sure the power is OFF and never trust a disconnected neutral to be dead! They can give you the worst kind of electric shock!

 

[brightspark]

[QUOTE="dobbslc, post:.
You must have a decent voltage indicator before you start. Be sure the power is OFF and never trust a disconnected neutral to be dead! They can give you the worst kind of electric shock![/QUOTE]yup live back feed through the bulb and back down through the disconnected neutral

 

[ukracer]

I have found some connection blocks. This is the one I think should be powering the lights.


It has no power to it.........I spent the afternoon taking the roof off pics later....