Blue, Brown and Grey wires

[FluxyCored]

So we have a two way light in the hallway and I disconnected the light and replaced it with a new one. The one thing I couldnt understand was the grey wire.

 

The electrician who rewired our house for some reason, but a grey one in there. So i thought it was another live wire. In this scenario, there were 3 neutral (blue), 1 live (brown) and 1 grey, which turned out to be a neutral. So as thinking it was a live, I put it in the neutral and tripped the circuit with a puff of smoke. 

 

So I called the electrician and told him what happened, he couldn't figure it out himself as to why he did that. He tripped the circuit himself then kind of blamed me for it.

 

Like mate, you rewired it that way, you dope.

 

It just annoyed me, he rewired it that way then blamed it on me. 

 

I'm just happy he got the light done.

 

Sorry, a bit of a ramble than a question

 

 

[SteamyTea]

I think it is to allow a neutral at the switches when 2 or 3 way switching is wanted.

Usually the neutral is up in the ceiling rose and only live and earth are at the switch. Sometimes not even an earth.

[Mr Punter]

This is why it is important to identify the wires with the correct colour sleeving.

[ProDave]

As this is a lighting circuit, there are so many possible ways of wiring it, all perfectly correct, that it would be impossible to give advice without further information and pictures.

 

This bit is in capitals intentionally because I have lost count of how many times I have said it, but still I need to say it again and again.

 

BEFORE CHANGING A LIGHT FITTING OR A SWITCH, TAKE A PICTURE AND MAKE SURE YOU CAN IDENTIFY EACH AND EVERY SINGLE CORE IN SOME WAY, MARKING THEM IN SOME WAY IF NECESSARY, SO YOU CAN ALWAYS GET BACK TO HOW IT WAS BEFORE YOUR BROKE IT

 

So lets start with pictures of what you have at the light fitting, AND pictures of what you have at the light switches.

 

There is no "standard" of what to do with a 3 core cable where you want to use one as a neutral but none are blue.  Bizarrely wiring regs don't address that.  One school of thought was use the black as neutral, as black used to be the colour for neutral a long time ago.  the other school of thought is don't use black as that is too confusing so use grey as the neutral.

 

We are in the strange position now, as black, that used to be neutral is now the colour for a line cable, and blue, which used to be the colour for a line cable, is now the colour for neutral.   No wonder there is confusion.