Cooker wiring help

[Dee]

Hi,

I'm trying to put back an existing cooker socket but what are these two black wires and where do they connect too? Something to do with the red light. They're just floating around in there!

Does it matter if the earth, that goes into the bottom right terminal touches the black?

Having a bitch trying yo get 3 earth wires to stay put in the terminal....they are so thick...any advice please??

 

[TonyT]

Those 2 black wires are probably the neon on the front? So put them in the load terminals and it will light up when the switch is on.

 

earths go together in that one terminal 

[billt]

Is there a neon indicator? They look the sort of wires that go to a neon, in which case one goes to the N and one goes to the L of the switched output.

[ProDave]

As well as getting different sized earths (why three?) to clamp, have fun getting those tiny black wires to clamp in the output terminals alongside the much larger outgoing wires.

 

Some better makes of switch have the neon wires already terminated and out of sight.

[TonyT]

3 earths- supply, load and earth to back box?

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, TonyT said:

3 earths- supply, load and earth to back box?

I don't subscribe to the earth fly lead.  Unecessary congenstion in an already tight back box.  As long as one of the screws is into a fixed lug, most regard an earth fly lead as not needed.

[TonyT]

Happy for you to have that opinion and I know other sparks feel the same, just offering the reason for the 3 wires.

i earth the back of the box with a flying lead 

[Dee]

Do having got all the cables back in I've now stripped one screw! It's m3.5. I bought m4 but there's no way on gods green earth I'm taking the socket off to drill the lug bigger.

What are my options?

[bassanclan]

Use a screw from an easier switch/socket until you can replace it e.g. single light switch

[TonyT]

Or if it’s the fixed lug, squash the lug a bit with pliers and use a 3.5mm tap to rethread as the hole

Edited August 8, 2023 by TonyT

[Onoff]

Google "socket lug fixers".

[Dee]

TonyT.....I did squish it....FLAT!  Managed to get small mole grips in and flattened it good and proper! Still able to drill smaller hole and used an m4 screw and somehow it worked! Bloody nightmare, need fingers thin as knitting needles

Thanks though