Wes

To ProDave and everybody else who helped me here, thanks so much! All works a treat now and no more loose wires about! Wago connectors worked brilliantly! Open neutral it was indeed. Whats great is that I have also learnt something in the process.

What happens with the earth?

Hi all so for interest, this is what’s under the light fitting: 3 wires coming in from the ceiling: 1: - Live (terminates in terminal block) - Neutral, not connected to anything - earth, not Connected to anything.. 2: -Live (terminates in terminal block) - black wire with brown sheath (not connected to anything) - grey wire with brown sheath connected to live of light 3: - live (terminates in terminal block) - neutral connected to neutral of light - earth All three earth wires appear to be twisted together and sheathed into one. The switch for the light has two switches. One works the light with no problems and the other does nothing (was used to operate the fan) The only two wires I disconnected when taking the ceiling rose off was the neutral and earth from wire 1 above. See pics but not sure you can make out much from them.

Agreed on this. The wires are outside the ceiling, in the light fitting. Will get these sorted urgently. Thanks Wes

☹️yep......

This is true... The indoor light does work fine with the switch, so at least I do know the live and neutral there.

I think it was confusion with the ceiling fan...I thought as it was removed, the wires need to be capped but clearly this causes issues down the line.

Apologies for the confusion ProDave - I posted that as it is the switch controlling the faulty light outside. Will take pics of the inside light and switch tonight.

Onoff - yes, correct. Ditched the ceiling rose and fitted a new light, Which now means there are some wires loose with insulation tape around them.

Yes, that was the switch to the outside light. Looking at the indoor light where I believe the problem is, there used to be a ceiling fan and light there when we bought the house. There is a two switch unit where one switch works the light and the other used to control the fan...but now does nothing as fan is removed.

Thanks Onoff -that is a big help. Do I have to get a ceiling rose, cant I just buy connectors with neutral, live, loop and earth?

Having a look at the indoor light which was replaced - there is no ceiling rose....clearly where the problem is coming from as there is no loop. If I am correct, there should be wires for loop in, loop out, and switch? Will check again after work what wires are there.

No, not that one, it came with the Ikea lamp..I’ll get something like this and change it out.

I changed a light and the neutral was a pain. Checked it tonight and looks ok. Fits in to one of those in line clip connectors...rubbish in my opinion so perhaps I should change that. Also changed a plug socket so will check it.

Now to find it.... can it be anywhere in the room, as in plug sockets, lights, appliances. etc?

Ok, so I have tested at the light fitting and here are the results: Live and Neutral: 3V......clearly not right! Live and Earth: 240V Neutral and Earth: 211V See picture of the light switch below:

Hi Nick Couple of questions: When you say all made off together in the same block, do you mean all the neutrals ends connected up as one? (I will load up a pic later.) Should the test between COM and blue and L1 and blue show 240V? And if the L1 to blue voltage is different when the switch is flicked, what is this telling me? Cheers Wes

I had a look inside the switch yesterday and it has two brown wires, one to COM and the other to L1. There are some blue wires in the box with the ends taped up.

Thanks Dave I will be sure to shutdown all supply to the house while investigating this.

Thanks for that! I will do as you say and test between live and neutral at the terminal block of the light fitting and go from there. The light I replaced a while back (inside) uses one of those clamp type inline connectors and I did battle to get the neutral to secure properly. The light works perfectly but if it is not making a good connection, could this be the source of my open circuit? Thanks Wes

Hi all I have a patio light which is not working. I have replaced the actual light unit and still nothing. I have one of those voltage pens which does indicate there is voltage present at the switch and at the light. I have since got a multimeter and would like to test both at the switch (Single, one way switch) and at the light. Questions: Can I test at the switch by holding the red probe on the COM and the black probe on the L1? I believe this should give a reading of 240V Then, at the light, red probe to the live and black probe to the neutral, giving a reading of 240V? Considering the voltage pen shows voltage present, I gather the switch is ok but will see. Otherwise I believe I could have an open neutral? All other lights work in this room without any problems. I had replaced one of them before and have since checked the neutral connection and all looks file. If I have an open neutral, how do I go about finding where it is originating from? (or is this when I call an Electrician?!) Thanks Wes