how do I wire up this light?

Submitted by scarecrow1985 t3_yfvm80 in DIY

Hey folks,advice needed! I made a balls of this. I have two pendant lights in our hall, and they're controlled by any of 4 different switches. When I went to replace the first one, it had 4 live, 3 neutral, and 3 earths running into it. Stupidly, I thought that I could just group all the lives together to the live of the light, all the neutrals to the neutral, and the earth's to the earth. When I turned on the light, it wouldn't turn off anymore!

I've an electrician calling in a week, but is there any advice on fixing it?

Using a voltage meter, I was able to figure out which of the lives is the 'hot' line. Currently, all the wires are hanging loose with electrical tape over each one.

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GoArray t1_iu5frpm wrote

Just wait for the electrician.

Single switch, sure. 3 way, eh.. maybe. 4 way not knowing what wires comes from where? Forgetaboutit. 5 way? Uhh..

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scarecrow1985 OP t1_iu5gfzx wrote

Thanks, yeah, i figured it was probably the safest option. I'm an idiot, I should have marked up everything, at least I could have put it back to the way it was 🙄

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GoArray t1_iu5hjga wrote

Yup. Hindsight, etc.

I really don't advise tackling this on your own but I wonder if this is your layout? You'd have to open all the switches to be sure then do a lot of chasing.

https://www.m.electrical101.com/m.4way-switch-wiring-using-nm-cable.html

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scarecrow1985 OP t1_iu5jw82 wrote

Honestly, you'd think that diagram would be it. But somehow the pendant has 11 wires running into it! It's a 'loop' system (Ireland), so maybe that's why it's so crazy. Thanks for looking though, I appreciate it!

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GoArray t1_iu5paf5 wrote

That's pretty common, 8 of those 11 wires are just travelers from one switch the the other, but which 8 and going where? Lol.

Yup, leave it to the belated pro.

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