Any sparkies on here ?

I need to know how to identify which cable is the mains supply to the dining room ceiling light, and which is the one from the switch ... they both look the same with a live, neutral, and earth wire

you can get a tester from B&Q

I've got a multimeter, but not sure what to set it on, or what I'm lookin for ... I use it on my cars/motorbikes so its always set to 12v DC ???

Normally the ring main is a bigger wire than the lighting ring

Good avatar, Mike.

Thanks
Been on my facebook for years. Just stole it from there

BlueStaffBlue wrote:Normally the ring main is a bigger wire than the lighting ring

Yeah I know Blue, but these mofo's are both the same size, and look identical ...

If you get electrocuted then you'll know you got the wrong one!

Oh miss read thought you said 1 to light 1 to sockets. Yeah one to light and to light switch will be the same size. You might just have to follow the cable to see where it goes. Have you had any luck?

Caryll wrote:If you get electrocuted then you'll know you got the wrong one!

.. thats what I'm afraid of

Blue - no luck yet, but I only bought the new light fitting yesterday and tried fitting it last night, which is when I found not knowing how to differenciate between the wires could possibly cause an issue !!

I'm sure there must be a way of testing the wire's with a multimeter, to tell which one is the main supply, therefore making the other the switch wire

There will be mate. If I run into a sparky I'll ask him. There are DIY forums. I go on every now and again and help people out with joinery

Yeah I think I'll check them out if I cant get anywhere at work tomorrow .. cheers mate

I'm just about to make my daughter a "rustic" dressing table for her bedroom and stain it "Teak" ... not enough hours in the day at the mo

I stay far away from any home improvements or repairs that can kill me.

Can I help you out mate ?? don't know how much you know already.

1) what you should have is a live feed to the ceiling rose on one cable, then the other cable goes from the live down to the switch and back.

2) if you can identify the reds and blacks from each separate cable the easiest way is as follows.
Turn off all of the power (most important step or bye bye Andy )
Put the meter onto resistance (symbol: Ω). As a test to make sure you are correct touch the 2 probes together and you will have a low reading 0.1, 0.2 etc
On each of the 2 cables, whilst someone helps you touch onto the red and black wires with the 2 probes and flick the switch at the same time, you should see the reading on the meter go high and low every time you flick the switch.
So this is the switch cable , and hence the other must be the live , if there is only 2 .
Let me know how you get on and if no luck I can talk you through checking it live but prefer not to as this is the safest way

Thats great cheers Davey boy ... I ent tried it yet cus I've been doing acurry this arvo along with .. ahum .. a few beers .. but I'll try what you said and let ya know mate

Andy wrote:Thats great cheers Davey boy ... I ent tried it yet cus I've been doing acurry this arvo along with .. ahum .. a few beers .. but I'll try what you said and let ya know mate

Best leave the mixing Beer and electricity to the experts like me mate

Dave wrote:

Andy wrote:Thats great cheers Davey boy ... I ent tried it yet cus I've been doing acurry this arvo along with .. ahum .. a few beers .. but I'll try what you said and let ya know mate

Best leave the mixing Beer and electricity to the experts like me mate

Dave you can mix beer and electricity you are deff an expert
no wait thats not its shocking literally lol

Done so many jobs on machines with a hangover from hell

And really rotten joke BTW

I did a post to you ages ago but you not answered, where were you a * metal worker at , anyone I know ?? Just curious don't mention my company name though as I'm told they are watching everywhere with their bots

just a small place in washington but we used cnc cutters/ punches/suppied by your place.
probbly old hat now as must be 8/10 years old now

can't think of anywhere in Washington that long ago been with them for 13 years this year and I only used to work on the lasers, been a few big buys recently up there though spending a lot so it shows that things are definitely on the up for the NE

Andy not been back on.....you killed him Dave with your advice

ANDY !!!!!!!!!!!!! speak to me mate

... ok, my multimeter is goosed .. so borrowed one from a mate

I've determined which one is the mains feed (just touched it wiv me tongue innit ), so now I gotta test the other with the beep setting while someone opperates the switch yeah ?

"let there be light" ... ... all sorted, cheers for the help fella's

Andy wrote: ... ok, my multimeter is goosed .. so borrowed one from a mate

I've determined which one is the mains feed (just touched it wiv me tongue innit ), so now I gotta test the other with the beep setting while someone opperates the switch yeah ?

Pleased you got sorted mate , sorry I missed the post yesterdaY

No worries me old china