Need wiring advice

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These 5 sockets are wired in parallel i think. I need to connect them to the thicker brown & blue wires that are shown coming through the top of the light fixture. Also I have no idea what the white wire is for. An earth? Should i earth to the metal fixture? This thing will hold 9 CFLS totalling 307 watts. I found an forum with a guy with a tag of Brick 73 or something similar claiming he was an electrician & giving out heaps good advice. I tied to PM him but his inbox is full. Any help greatly appreciated. I dont want to start a fire (not a Billy Joel fan!)
 

Ammastor

Active Member
I would try to help you out but Australia power I know nothing about.

I am sure someone knows about how the wiring is done over there as I am sure it is different then here in the states.
 

ButchyBoy

Well-Known Member
I am in the US so I am not sure about your wiring. What voltage is used down there? From my searches (240 volt)the black or blue wire is neutral, the red or brown wire is active (hot) and green or green/yellow is earth (ground).

240V socket wiring.jpg

If this is the case, you would connect one of the wires from the socket to the blue wire and the other wire from the socket would go to the brown wire. Earth would connect to the metal case of the fixture.
 

ruffrider

Active Member
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These 5 sockets are wired in parallel i think. I need to connect them to the thicker brown & blue wires that are shown coming through the top of the light fixture. Also I have no idea what the white wire is for. An earth? Should i earth to the metal fixture? This thing will hold 9 CFLS totalling 307 watts. I found an forum with a guy with a tag of Brick 73 or something similar claiming he was an electrician & giving out heaps good advice. I tied to PM him but his inbox is full. Any help greatly appreciated. I dont want to start a fire (not a Billy Joel fan!)
Connect all the red wires by twisting the ends together then do the same for the blue. Only connect red with red and blue with blue tho, once there tied together keep them separate make sure blue doesn't touch red and vice versa.

Once thats done get an extension cord cut the top off of it.. find the nevagtive and postive of it connect (by twisting) the red wire to postive and blue wire to negative.

If the extension cord has a green/yellow ground tie your green cable into. If not you will have to find some metal to attach to so you have a ground.. you could also bypass the ground (not suggested).

Also make sure to cover all your connections with either wire caps or electrical tape.
 
Thanks to all of you guys. Yes we only got colour TV down here last year so this electricty stuff is god damn confussing. Yeh 240 volts comes out of Aussie sockets...I'll follow all your leads (no pun intended) & weave the light blue to the dark blue & the light red to the brown. Will use wire nuts & tape & maybe even cut up some small diameter PVC piping to cover it as I don't dig getting an electrical shock when watering or adjusting the height of the fixture. You all get ++ REP from me. Cheers BB
 
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