At first glance, it seems that connecting the fixtures is not particularly difficult. Is it hard to connect the wires? However, in real conditions there may be such situations (and often), when the number of wires in the chandelier is not two, but three or more. And if they are also of different colors? Such a turnaround is already significantly complicating and confusing the situation. How to connect the wires in the chandelier in this case?
In any case, it’s clearly not worth panicking, as well as doing everything at random. Incorrect connection of lighting fixtures threatens with various consequences, from electric shock to short circuit. Therefore, even such an easy matter must be taken seriously and responsibly.
Features of the lamp
Electric current in the home wiring flows in a closed loop, which is formed by a phase and neutral conductor. This allows the bulb to glow, as electrons pass through its spiral. But if it is not applied to one of the potentials, then there will be no glow. Accordingly, the bulb will light up while there is voltage, and will turn off when the supply to phase or zero is cut off, as well as when the power is off.
At the same time, according to safety rules, it is the phase that must be broken. Otherwise, when replacing lamps with a blown filament, even when the switch is off, the risk of electric shock remains. To do this, just touch the grounded live part. This should be remembered to anyone who wants to know how to connect an ordinary lamp or LED ceiling chandelier.
But when the phase is cut off, then a working zero is supplied to the cartridge, and it is definitely not capable of harming the human body.
How are wires marked
In old residential buildings erected since the times of the USSR, wiring has only two wires: phase and zero. And most often the wires do not have color marking, so it is easy to get confused. With apartments in modern high-rise buildings, everything is somewhat simpler - there is already a color designation.
Many years have passed since the USSR, and today there are rules that have been established by the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization. They are accepted in the countries of Europe, China, and the Russian Federation. That is, now there should not be any problems with how to correctly connect the chandelier wires.
According to these standards, wiring is marked with the following color shades:
- The working zero should be indicated by a single Latin letter N, the color shade is usually blue.
- Phase - L, and color - gray, black, brown.
- Zero protective conductor (grounding) - already indicated by two Latin letters PE, color - yellow-green.
In other countries, color coding may vary. This is due to the release date of electrical appliances and the type of cable indoors. As noted above, the wires in the buildings of the Soviet Union were the same color, and most often white. In this case, one should be able to determine where the phase is and where is zero. And this will be discussed later.
Determined with wires
How to connect a chandelier with 3 wires when the documentation for the lighting device is not preserved? This sometimes happens, and color coding may not be available at all, which is important for old houses. In this case, try to determine where, phase, and where is zero. In such a situation, it is best to use an indicator screwdriver, which every electrician definitely has.
Moreover, if only two wires are suitable for the chandelier, then if you mix them up, the chandelier will still work, although the current will be supplied to the side contact for the base. However, if there are more of them, then introductory machines will work.
Determining the ownership of the wires is done as follows - the sting should touch the exposed wire, and the finger of the hand is pressed to the end of the tool. If voltage is present (phase), then the indicator will light up, otherwise it will not light (zero or ground). Of course, this is worth doing when the switch is in the “ON” position.
Multimeter help
What to understand, how to connect the wires in a three-arm chandelier in an old residential building to determine their accessories, in addition to the indicator screwdriver, you can use a multimeter. Such a device is also useful to keep in the home of every home master.
First, make a small check: put the device into dialing mode (diode icon with a buzzer indicating a sound signal) and short-circuit the probes for a short time. A signal will sound, which will indicate that the device is working, and the measurement limit is selected correctly.
Actually the procedure for determining zero and phase:
- To understand how to connect the wires of a five-arm chandelier, you first need to unscrew the lamps from it. The cartridge visually determines the contacts. The spring in the center corresponds to the phase, while the entire metal thread (serves to screw in the cap) is already zero.
- Finding zero on wires. One probe should touch the side thread of any of the cartridges, and the other should alternately touch the exposed part of the wires going to the chandelier.
- A sound signal will let you know that a neutral conductor has been found - it is better to immediately mark it with a marker or in any other way.
- Finding a phase conductor. Everything is done the same way, only one probe touches the spring contact in the middle, and the other, in turn, to the remaining wires. The same beep will notify you of a phase that should also be labeled somehow.
After determining the phase and zero, it is worth moving on to determining the number of circuits. To do this, one probe touch the found phase conductor, and the other alternately to the spring contact in each cartridge.
The definition of the contours will also help you become familiar with how to connect the wires of the chandelier and the wiring. If it is one, then an audio signal will be heard when a contact is touched in each cartridge. If part of the contacts does not show “signs”, then the second probe should be applied to another wire. The presence of a sound signal will indicate that the other conductor is also phase, and the entire system is already dual-circuit.
Sometimes a third wire can mean grounding, which also indicates a single loop system. The check in this case comes down to the following - one probe for any metal part of the chandelier, and the other to the third conductor. A sound should also appear.
Required Equipment
When the conductors are found and the number of circuits is determined, we can proceed to consider how to connect lighting devices. What might be needed for such a job?
To do everything right, you can not do without the help of a certain snap-in:
- indicator screwdriver;
- multimeter;
- pliers or pliers;
- a knife;
- electrical tape.
In addition, to solve the problem of how to connect a chandelier with 6 wires, 3 or 2, you will need a stepladder or a stable stand, a passport for the chandelier (if it is preserved), a marker, a blank sheet of paper. It is better to connect the wires not by twisting (which is even forbidden by the PUE), but using a terminal block with three contacts. It is sold in any construction department of hardware stores and is inexpensive.
Safety precautions
In order to connect a chandelier, it is not necessary to call an electrician. Everyone can cope with such work, it would be a desire and time. At the same time, certain rules should be followed. First of all, do not twist to combine several bulbs into separate groups. Over time, oxidation will occur, the quality of the contact will deteriorate, the junction of the wires will become hot. As a result, this leads to a risk of fire. Therefore, it is recommended to resort to soldering.
How to connect the wires in the chandelier on the ceiling? This should be done exclusively through the terminal blocks. As a rule, most modern fixtures are already equipped with them; for old chandeliers, you should buy them separately. But sometimes the thickness of the group of cores can exceed the size of the hole of the terminal block. In this case, it is filled with tin and a wire is soldered to this place.
In addition, the connection should be made only after supplying electricity to the apartment or house, and it is possible to de-energize the entire house or turn off only the machine on the lighting line, where the work will be done.
You should also consider a number of important points:
- The handles of the tool used must be insulated without signs of damage.
- Before starting work, you should always make sure that there is no voltage on the wires.
- Under the feet is to put a mat of any dielectric material.
Now it’s worth figuring out which lighting connection schemes exist today.
Connection to two wires
How to connect the wires in the chandelier when there are only two? In many apartments of old buildings, usually only a phase and zero hang from the ceiling. In this case, the chandelier is controlled in only one way - the lamps light up all at once if there are more than one of them (2, 3, 5, etc.). This corresponds to a single-circuit lighting system.
If the chandelier is designed for one lamp, then special difficulties are not expected, but if there are two, three or more, additional preparation should be carried out. The first step is to combine all the phase wires in the chandelier into a single contact. Thus, one contour is formed. The same should be done with other wires. In many chandeliers, the phase and zero are usually of different colors, usually brown or black and blue, respectively.
In some models, the groups are already united by the manufacturer, so we leave everything as is. At the same time, some lighting fixtures are in a metal case and have a third ground wire. But since in our case it cannot be used, it should be cut off, isolated, because it is completely excluded from the process.
The general procedure for how to connect the wires in the chandelier will be as follows:
- First you need to determine which of the cores from the ceiling corresponds to what.
- Appropriate notes are made.
- Now it remains to connect the wires of the chandelier with ceiling conductors. And it is better to start with the connection of zero wires.
- Next, the phases are connected.
- The chandelier is mounted to the ceiling.
- A check is made on the performance of the lamp.
If you follow the instructions above, then special difficulties should not arise.
Protective conductor connection
In this case, this indicates that the electrical network of the residential building is made in accordance with modern standards. Here, a protective zero of the appropriate color is already used. Difficulties should not arise here either, since the connection is carried out in accordance with the color designation of the wires.
If the purchased lighting fixture is made in a metal case, then the ground wire in the chandelier is necessarily present as an indispensable attribute. And if it was previously mentioned that it should be isolated from the rest, now it is connected to the corresponding terminal from the ceiling through the block.
What to do when all the wires are the same color, we now know. An indicator screwdriver or multimeter will help you find their accessories.
The final stage of connecting the chandelier
After connecting the wires of the chandelier with the ceiling leads, it remains to connect the switch. This is already the final stage of all work. As we now know, it is precisely the phase that is disconnected with its help in order to avoid electric shock if the live parts are accidentally touched. As for the neutral and ground wires, they go directly to the lamps bypassing the switch.
Many stores have devices with different numbers of keys. There is a wide range of single-key switches. However, there are other options. For example, for a 5-lamp chandelier, a double switch would be the best choice. There are also three-key analogs.
Single key switch
This is the simplest scheme, which allows you to turn on and off all the lamps in the chandelier at once (if there are several). Typically, this option is relevant in cases where only two wires hanging from the ceiling, corresponding to phase and zero, hang from the ceiling. Moreover, no matter how many wires the chandelier itself has.
The process itself comes down to connecting the wiring in the device itself and installing it on the wall. That is, at the input terminal, the phase from the junction box is screwed, another wire that goes to the chandelier is connected to the output.
Two-gang switch
How to connect the chandelier wires to a double switch? Here the scheme is complicated by the fact that there are already two phases instead of one.
Such switches are relevant for the formation of a dual-circuit lighting system - lamps are simply grouped into several categories:
- 1 + 1;
- 1 + 2;
- 2 + 2;
- 2 + 3;
- 3 + 3;
There may be more such groups, since it all depends on the number of lamps in the chandelier. The connection itself is made in a similar way as with a switch with one key, but with a small exception. Now, one phase wire from the junction box is fed to its input, and two wires go to the output of each lamp group from the output.
Three-key option
Such switches are already relevant for multi-track chandeliers, where the lamps can be more than 5. Here you can already form not two, but as many as three independent groups. Accordingly, three phases must be suitable for the lighting device, in addition to the working zero and the protective one (if any, in the wiring of the apartment or house).
The connection is done in exactly the same way as we already considered, only here the difference will be that at the output of the switch there are already three wires that will go to the groups of lamps. At the entrance is the same phase from the junction box.
Modern chandeliers
As for modern LED ceiling chandeliers, their connection is carried out in the same way as conventional lamp chandeliers. However, they are not intended for a 220 V network, they need a lower voltage and for this a special step-down module is hidden in the case. It remains only to connect the wires: phase, zero, ground (if any). How to do this, we now know.
At the same time, it should be understood that such lamps are mainly produced in China, which means that their quality directly depends on the manufacturer and, accordingly, the cost of the chandelier. For this reason, it is better not to choose the cheapest options, it is worth buying an option more expensive, but it will last much longer.
Conclusion
As you can see the task of how to connect a chandelier with 3 wires or more should not cause special difficulties.
The main thing is to observe elementary rules and in no case ignore safety precautions. Then the result can be satisfied and avoid electric shock.