Hi Guys

Was hoping to call on the knowledge of anyone with home electrics experience!

I bought an outdoor security light as a replacement to our old one today. Being me, I took the original off without really paying much attention to the wiring layout- thinking it would be your standard Brown, Blue and Yellow/Green affair. I think that the cable outside the house uses the newer 'harmonised' (?) wiring, so I have a cable with 4 cores- black, grey, brown and an exposed copper cable...

I've wired it up according to the instructions, under the following assumptions:

Live = Brown
Neutral = Black
Earth = Grey

Power back on and nothing, not even with the sensor on full daylight mode- you can't even it hear it click when movement is spotted? I'm pretty much sure it's my wiring, but I don't really know which way everything should go! None of the trips in the house have gone, so my wiring can't be catastrophic- but it still doesn't work!

Can anyone tell me whether I've wired this up right and if I should be using the exposed copper cable for anything?

Thanks in advance!

Ben.

I'm not a 'leccy, but exposed copper cable is ALWAYS the earth!

Did the old light have a switch somewhere to turn it on/off?

Brown = Live (Permanent)
Black = Live (Switcthed. Identified with brown sleeving)
Grey = Neutral (Identified with Blue sleeving)
Bare copper wire should be sleeved with green?yellow and be connecting any metal components to earth !

Need to know alittle bit more about your install to work out what and why you had 3 core and earth to a light !

Regards
Jon



(Edited for typo, There may be more !)

[Edited on 22/9/12 by slingshot2000]

What else do you have on that circuit? Unsure why have you got a switched live to the light along with a permanent, seems very strange unless you linking to another item/product and one wire is junctioned in the light.

Switched live to control the lamp from a switch as well as via a PIR?

we always wire a 3 core to outside pir fittings via a 3 position switch.
brown is permanent
black is switch wire (brown sleeve)
grey neutral (blue sleeve)
bare copper earth.
3 position switch gives off,on or sensor mode with the black (switched live) direct to lamp terminal in fitting

[Edited on 22/9/12 by daniel mason]

We've been in the house for a few weeks and I gradually come across more and more things that don't seem to conform to the 'norm'. For instance the seals on the electric meter weren't even there when we moved in (luckily I reported it the day we moved in and the supplier has patched them up without asking us any questions). This was our first house so there was obviously quite a few things I didn't know/expect to look for.

So in terms of why the setup is the way it is, I can't answer it- all I want to do is fix it to what it should be. I believe that it is a switched supply, we have a light switch on the wall in the kitchen (light's on the back of the house, with the kitchen) that I've no idea about, so that must be it.

I did think the exposed copper cable was the earth, so that's how it is at the moment- having the grey wire confused me from my expectation of blue, brown and yellow/green.

I'm afraid I'll have to confess ignorance on the 'sleeving' you're talking about? Each of the cores on the wire from the house have insulation around them, but it's to the grey/black/brown colours- there was no sleeving on it when I took the old lamp off. So my lamp only has three connections for live/neutral and earth- what do I do about the brown and black wires?

Thanks so far guys!

ideally put a multimeter across each of them to earth to find out how its wired!
if brown is live with switch off its a permanent live, if it comes live when switch is on a switched live. then test it to grey(which should be neutral) and you should get voltage. the black may be un used completely. un screw the switch and the wires should be in there.to see how its wired.