Electrical – My bulb is permanently on. Why

electricallightwiring

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Setting: Victorian house, kitchen.

Light switch.
1 red wire going into common.
1 red wire going into L1

Original set up in the ceiling rose.
1 black wire, neutral.
2 red wires in the loop on the ceiling rose.
1 red wire, live.

I recently changed my light fitting. I took all the wires out of the rose and connected them directly to a Habitat Fisherman light fitting.

It should have been simple.

Connect neutral to neutral. Earth to earth and live to live. Isolate the 2 remaining red wires into connectors.

I did that and the new light won't switch off. It's permanently on.

I tried changing the red wires in turn to figure out if i had connected the wrong red to red but there only seems to be one red wire that is live.
(I haven't done a pro test using measuring tools)

I took a picture of the rose just after I connected the first red wire to a connector. Originally this wire was in a loop position.

enter image description here

Best Answer

To supplement what brhans says in his answer ...

Like this but without the middle cable (which is power to the next light & switch, not present in last ceiling rose on a circuit).

wiring inside UK ceiling rose

You have old colours - black instead of blue, red instead of brown.

Your electrician used the correct two-red cable for the switch, most electrician nowadays use the "normal" cable and put tape around the wrong-coloured wire to indicate it's actual purpose.