Outside light wiring

[overend]

Replcing outside light. Wiring is red, black and two unsheathed neutral which are wound together. The removed light fitting did nor have the neutral wiring connected to it. New fitting to old wires I understand, but new fitting has neutral connection. Do I need to connect the previously redundant wires. Controled by indoor switch. Sorry for lack of knowledge shown in question.

 

[binky]

Red is live, black is neutral, unsheathed cables earths. These should be sleeved with green yellow sleeving

 

[overend]

Thanks for response. Do I needto connect earths as were not conected to previous light?

 

[binky]

Thanks for response. Do I needto connect earths as were not conected to previous light?

Depends on the new fitting, some have earth's some don't. If not needed, they still need to be in a terminal block.

 

[Apache]

a picture speaks a thousand words.....

 

[Sparkless]

Thanks for response. Do I needto connect earths as were not conected to previous light?

If what you call "unsheathed neutral" are bare earth wires they should be fitted with green & yellow sleeving and connected to what you call the "neutral connection" if this is the actually the earth terminal. If the light fitting has metal parts there should be an earth connection unless it is double-insulated or all-insulated.

 

[overend]

Thanks - up and running

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Thanks - up and running

Glad to hear..

But please also remember that "Up & Running" does not always mean something is wired correctly and electrically safe..
(e.g. reverse polarity and missing earth onto metal parts would be "Up & Running".. but NOT correct or safe!)

Similar to a car with no insurance, no road Tax, bald tyres, faulty lights......
It could be up and running.. but certainly not safe, (or legal!).

Your lack of knowledge of what the function of the individual cable conductors are is a bit worrying?

Do you have any test gear to confirm the very basics of polarity and continuity of conductors...?

(Plus in my opinion, it would also benefit from testing the earth-loop-impedance and RCD trip times...
But these are normally outside of the scope of DIY'ers due to their lack of access to industry standard test equipment).