electrical wireing?

Question

I just taken down a spot light in the kitchen and disconnected the wires, putting the new one up, Ive noticed the colours are different, from the ceiling I have one black wire and two red, they are ok, cos they go into the terminal block and i havent disconnected those, but the new spotligh has a blue wire and a brown wire. Can anyone advise me which joins with which??? thanks

Many thanks Jester, its simple when you know how

Answer 1

Red-Brown,Black-Blue

Answer 2

Connect blue to the black (neutral Not negative),
connect brown to the red (live Not positive).

Sorry to seem pedantic about the terminology but positive and negative are designations for DC circuits only. Your household electricity supply is AC.
If you get into the bad (lazy) habit of confusing the terminology for AC and DC circuits you could sooner or later make a very expensive or dangerous mistake, or cause someone else to get it wrong.

Answer 3

This is how I remember the colours.

Look at a plug with the top off and the fuse is on the right for live wires :-

1) R for Red = Right Hand Side of plug (Live)
2) BL for Black = Bottom Left hand side of plug (Neutral)

3) BR for Brown = Bottom Right of plug (Live)
4) BL for Blue = Bottom Left of plug (Neutral)

So red to brown and black to blue.

The yellow, or yellow green is the earth.

Answer 4

Does the switch control more than one light so that they are connected in series? If so the reds go together and with the brown on your light. The blue go with the black.

Disclaimer: no responsilbility can be accepted for any fatalities arising from this answer.

Answer 5

red= positive black=negative
brown=positive blue=negative

Answer 6

Brown wire is positive,Blue is negative.There should be a sticker somewhere telling you this.

Answer 7

You can see the new harmonised colours for most types of wire here- http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/electrical.htm

Answer 8

Blue ----------> Black (negative - )

Brown ----------> Red ( positive + )