I bought a new ceiling light fixture and a single dimmer switch to replace the existing fixture and single switch. I installed the dimmer switch first which worked with the existing light fixture, no problem - on, off, and dim. I then installed the new light fixture. The old ceiling rose had 3 live, 3 neutral and 1 earth going into a series of connector blocks. Since my new fixture only had 3 connections, I twisted the old wires and connected them to the corresponding new ones - easy, right? Power on. Light came on but dimmer switch wouldn't dim. Turned off the light at the dimmer switch and the fuse blew. Messed with the dimmer connections to no avail. Disconnected the new light fixture. Now when I turn on the power, the fuse blows. I spent last night in semi-darkness and am now contemplating calling an electrician but would rather do this myself.

Anybody?

In article , Heather
writes

I bought a new ceiling light fixture and a single dimmer switch to
replace the existing fixture and single switch. I installed the dimmer
switch first which worked with the existing light fixture, no problem -
on, off, and dim. I then installed the new light fixture. The old
ceiling rose had 3 live, 3 neutral and 1 earth going into a series of
connector blocks. Since my new fixture only had 3 connections, I
twisted the old wires and connected them to the corresponding new ones
- easy, right? Power on. Light came on but dimmer switch wouldn't
dim. Turned off the light at the dimmer switch and the fuse blew.
Messed with the dimmer connections to no avail. Disconnected the new
light fixture. Now when I turn on the power, the fuse blows. I spent
last night in semi-darkness and am now contemplating calling an
electrician but would rather do this myself.

Gorblimey, this question seems to come up every 5 minutes. If you use
google groups and search for "ceiling rose" you will find a zillion
answers, but the short version is, one of the "neutral" wires is
actually a switched live from your dimmer switch and would have been
connected to one side of the bulb. The red wires are unswitched live.

When you clicked your dimmer switch you were actually turning it on not
off and you shorted out live and neutral hence the fuse blowing.

You need to find which red wire goes to the dimmer switch and which
black wire comes back from it (you will probably need a multimeter for
this). Then connect all the reds together, the other blacks together,
and the black from the dimmer to the light bulb.

Next time, note down what is connected where before disconnecting!

(PS I think calling the electrician is a good plan)
--
Tim Mitchell

"Heather" wrote in message
...

I bought a new ceiling light fixture and a single dimmer switch to
replace the existing fixture and single switch. I installed the dimmer
switch first which worked with the existing light fixture, no problem -
on, off, and dim. I then installed the new light fixture. The old
ceiling rose had 3 live, 3 neutral and 1 earth going into a series of
connector blocks. Since my new fixture only had 3 connections, I
twisted the old wires and connected them to the corresponding new ones
- easy, right? Power on. Light came on but dimmer switch wouldn't
dim. Turned off the light at the dimmer switch and the fuse blew.
Messed with the dimmer connections to no avail. Disconnected the new
light fixture. Now when I turn on the power, the fuse blows. I spent
last night in semi-darkness and am now contemplating calling an
electrician but would rather do this myself.



The new lamp isn't a compact fluorescent light by any chance was it ?

(and you want to trace the wires back to the terminal blocks and attach them
properly once you've made it work)

Jeremy

Tim Mitchell wrote:
In article , Heather
writes

I bought a new ceiling light fixture and a single dimmer switch to
replace the existing fixture and single switch. I installed the
dimmer
switch first which worked with the existing light fixture, no
problem -
on, off, and dim. I then installed the new light fixture. The old
ceiling rose had 3 live, 3 neutral and 1 earth going into a series
of
connector blocks. Since my new fixture only had 3 connections, I
twisted the old wires and connected them to the corresponding new
ones
- easy, right? Power on. Light came on but dimmer switch wouldn't
dim. Turned off the light at the dimmer switch and the fuse blew.
Messed with the dimmer connections to no avail. Disconnected the new
light fixture. Now when I turn on the power, the fuse blows. I
spent
last night in semi-darkness and am now contemplating calling an
electrician but would rather do this myself.

Gorblimey, this question seems to come up every 5 minutes. If you use

google groups and search for "ceiling rose" you will find a zillion
answers, but the short version is, one of the "neutral" wires is
actually a switched live from your dimmer switch and would have been
connected to one side of the bulb. The red wires are unswitched live.

When you clicked your dimmer switch you were actually turning it on
not
off and you shorted out live and neutral hence the fuse blowing.

You need to find which red wire goes to the dimmer switch and which
black wire comes back from it (you will probably need a multimeter
for
this). Then connect all the reds together, the other blacks together,

and the black from the dimmer to the light bulb.

Next time, note down what is connected where before disconnecting!

(PS I think calling the electrician is a good plan)
--
Tim Mitchell

Indeed. If youre competent to do so, which I am not so sure of, one
coudl disconnect all the black wires and use a lightbulb to find out
which one is what, then reconnect correctly. 2 will be neutral, one
will be switched live. A bulb lights only when it gets live on one side
and neutral on the other.

NT

Heather wrote:

on, off, and dim. I then installed the new light fixture. The old
ceiling rose had 3 live, 3 neutral and 1 earth going into a series of
connector blocks. Since my new fixture only had 3 connections, I
twisted the old wires and connected them to the corresponding new ones

That is your problem....

Three lives should be common, but only two of the neutrals! (because one
is actually a live on its way back from the switch). It is current good
proactice to mark the switched live with a red sleave or bit of red
insulating tape in the ceiling rose so that it is easy to see at a
glance which is the switch wire.



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
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\================================================= ================/

In article . com,
" says...
Tim Mitchell wrote:
In article , Heather
writes

I bought a new ceiling light fixture and a single dimmer switch to
replace the existing fixture and single switch. I installed the
dimmer
switch first which worked with the existing light fixture, no
problem -
on, off, and dim. I then installed the new light fixture. The old
ceiling rose had 3 live, 3 neutral and 1 earth going into a series
of
connector blocks. Since my new fixture only had 3 connections, I
twisted the old wires and connected them to the corresponding new
ones
- easy, right? Power on. Light came on but dimmer switch wouldn't
dim. Turned off the light at the dimmer switch and the fuse blew.
Messed with the dimmer connections to no avail. Disconnected the new
light fixture. Now when I turn on the power, the fuse blows. I
spent
last night in semi-darkness and am now contemplating calling an
electrician but would rather do this myself.

Gorblimey, this question seems to come up every 5 minutes. If you use

google groups and search for "ceiling rose" you will find a zillion
answers, but the short version is, one of the "neutral" wires is
actually a switched live from your dimmer switch and would have been
connected to one side of the bulb. The red wires are unswitched live.

When you clicked your dimmer switch you were actually turning it on
not
off and you shorted out live and neutral hence the fuse blowing.

You need to find which red wire goes to the dimmer switch and which
black wire comes back from it (you will probably need a multimeter
for
this). Then connect all the reds together, the other blacks together,

and the black from the dimmer to the light bulb.

Next time, note down what is connected where before disconnecting!

(PS I think calling the electrician is a good plan)
--
Tim Mitchell

Indeed. If youre competent to do so, which I am not so sure of, one
coudl disconnect all the black wires and use a lightbulb to find out
which one is what, then reconnect correctly. 2 will be neutral, one
will be switched live. A bulb lights only when it gets live on one side
and neutral on the other.

Or live on one side and earth on the other (or two phases of a three-
phase supply) (or between neutral and earth if it's a low-voltage
bulb).

In article ,
Heather wrote:
I bought a new ceiling light fixture and a single dimmer switch to
replace the existing fixture and single switch. I installed the dimmer
switch first which worked with the existing light fixture, no problem -
on, off, and dim. I then installed the new light fixture. The old
ceiling rose had 3 live, 3 neutral and 1 earth going into a series of
connector blocks.

You've had the answer about one of the blacks being a switch return and
therefore a 'live' when the switch is on, but only one earth? There should
be three earth wires. One on the feed, one on the loop to the next ceiling
rose, and one to the light switch. Those should be linked, and fed to the
fitting - if needed for the fitting. Sounds like you need pro help.

--
*I finally got my head together, now my body is falling apart.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.