testing a light fitting

[avinalarf]

Nat:Hope I`m not telling you what you already know, but you mentioned not all of the lights worked at first. How did you actually fit the lamps. although they are 12V G4 lamps, they`re still halogen, and the same rules apply. No touching lamps with bare skin when fitting them........you`ll shorten the life of the lamp dramatically.

TBH, the fitting had been knocking around in my house for the last 2 years as I had nowhere to fit it, so it didn't surprise me that half of the lamps had blown!

You have done the job right, by the posts I`ve just read, and the readings you had are spot on - of course there`s 240 to the casing - from live! If you need to check again; check casing to Neutral - you shouldn`t have any voltage present. You read 245V, because the body of the fitting is 245V AWAY from LIVE potential - got it? That is exactly where it should be.

n.b. If you`d had about 125V, that would be the body of the fitting NOT connected to earth, and "floating" halfway between the potential of the supply - make sense?

KME

Yes it does now KME - thanks for your help.

Nat

 

[davie garden]

If it's class 2 you should NOT be able to read a voltage between 'live' and the fitting casing.

If it's class 1 and you have earthed the fitting you should get a reading of 230v approx between 'live' and the fitting casing, but it's not the fitting that's live, it's the 'live' conductor that's live, the earthed fitting is only providing a return path. If the fitting was faulty and you had it connecting and switched on, the protective device would have tripped.