How to connect a chandelier to a double switch, diagrams

From this article, you will learn what cross-section of wires is needed to connect to a chandelier, how to ring and determine the phases on the ceiling: we are looking for a ground wire, we are looking for phases and zero, the designation of chandelier wires.

How to connect a chandelier in a simple way, the rules for connecting wires, connecting a chandelier to 2,3,4,5, 6 to a single and double switch and many other questions.

Design features of the chandelier

Chandeliers are most often used as lighting fixtures in residential premises – multi-lamp fixtures designed for ceiling mounting.

A chandelier is a structure that connects several lighting elements – light bulbs, which allows for good lighting in the room.

If you use an ordinary light bulb in the room, then to ensure proper lighting, you will need to install a powerful lighting element, and even then, with significant volumes of the room, it will not be enough.

But such light is not always needed, so the best option is to use several lamps.

But in the case of using ordinary light bulbs to power each of them, you will have to lay your own wire or branch out from the junction box.

But if you install a chandelier, the design of which involves the installation of several light bulbs, then the connection in terms of complexity will be the same as one or more light bulbs.

But at the same time, all the lighting elements included in the design will be powered, and from one wire.

And all because the branching of the wiring occurs at the entrance to the chandelier, and not in the junction box.

Well, do not discount the aesthetic side of the issue. A lone light bulb hanging on the ceiling looks dull, or a beautiful chandelier.

To get good lighting in a room with a perfect combination of a lighting fixture with an interior, it is not enough just to purchase the right chandelier, it still needs to be hung and connected correctly.

Therefore, we will further consider how to properly connect the chandelier.

What is taken into account before work is carried out?

Here are a few key points to keep in mind:

• The design of the chandelier (They are usually divided among themselves by horns – elements at the end of which lampholders are installed. As mentioned above, the division into supply branches for light bulbs is made at the entrance to the chandelier, and the horns can be considered these branches. By design, chandeliers are hornless, two-, three-, four- and five-horn);
• The switch used (the method of connection depends on this. If, for example, the switch is single-key and when the light is turned on, all the lamps of the chandelier will light up, then this is one connection scheme, but the use of two- or three-gang switches, each key of which will be responsible for the operation of a certain group lamps require the use of a slightly different connection method);
• The presence of additional equipment in the design of the chandelier (a fan or a remote control unit make their own specific adjustments to the connection scheme);
• Features of the electrical system at home (in old buildings, two-wire wiring is usually used, and in new or restored ones, the number of wires is already three).

And one more thing – it’s one thing to simply remove the old lighting fixture and connect a new one instead, and it’s quite another to completely create a lighting power line, including wiring from the switchboard, installing switches, junction boxes and lighting fixtures, and then connecting them to one network.

We will not delve into the features of self-laying the power branch of the chandelier, since we are more interested only in ways to connect lighting elements, although some points regarding wiring will be affected.

Helpful information

Here are some features that might help:

• Breaking the circuit with a switch is carried out only along the phase line, and the neutral core and the ground wire (if any) go directly to the consumer;
• For each branch, a separate phase wire is laid at the output of their switch (It is separated in the switch itself. A single-key switch has one phase conductor at the output, a two-key switch has two, a three-key switch has three). This affects the wire used leading from the switch;
• On the terminal blocks of the chandeliers, you can find the designation of the terminals, which facilitates the connection (marking “L” indicates that the output is phase, “N” – zero, “PE” – ground).

Now directly, how to connect the chandelier to the switch.

Let’s assume that the line is made in advance, the switch is in place, and 2 or 3 wires stick out of the ceiling (and the third wire is “ground”).

In general, the connection diagram is the simplest – “single-key switch – 1 lighting device.”

If the chandelier is hornless (with 1 lamp), then the connection method does not differ at all from powering a simple light bulb.

Also, to a large extent, connecting a chandelier to one or more light bulbs simplifies a multi-channel wireless switch.

One-button switch – 1 chandelier

Before starting work, you should determine where which wire is. It’s good if modern wiring with a color difference was used. At the initial stage, only “land” is of interest.

If the electricians did not mess up anything, then the ground wire will have a yellow-green braid.

But you will have to deal with the phase and zero on your own and for this you will only need an indicator screwdriver, but all precautions should be observed, since the check is done in live wiring.

Therefore, before applying voltage, make sure that the ends of the wires are separated in different directions and do not touch each other.

And only after that you can apply voltage (you also need to turn the switch to the “on” position).

Read on the topic – why aluminum wiring is dangerous.

After we touch the ends of the wiring with the sting of the indicator screwdriver, the lit control lamp, when touched, will indicate that the core is phase, which means that the second one is zero.

If there are three wires at the output, and it is not clear which one is zero and “ground”, you can use a test light to determine (we connect a two-wire wire to a regular 220 lamp through a cartridge). After we reveal the phase with an indicator screwdriver.

And then we connect the light bulb to the phase wire and one of the other two.

If the lamp lights up after applying voltage, then the second wire will be zero (if it doesn’t light up, “ground” is connected to the control). For reliability, the wires should be reversed.

After determining which core is which, it remains only to connect them to the corresponding terminals of the chandelier terminal block, and then fix it on the ceiling hook. In general, everything is simple.

The scheme for connecting a chandelier to two terminals is as follows:

If the circuit is three-wire, then the connection is done as follows:

Now suppose that the chandelier is two-arm and you need to connect it to a single-gang switch.

Each horn is a branch and two wires (phase and zero) should go from it, while the “ground” is connected to the body, so it does not go to the branches.

Let’s assume that there are blue and brown wires coming from each horn.

To connect the chandelier, you need to separate the wires of the horns by color and twist them together (blue is separate from brown).

Then we connect them to the power line, and it does not matter what color wires will be phase and zero.

For example, we connect the twist of brown wires through the block to the phase conductor, and the blue one to zero.

Then we isolate everything and check the performance. Here we note that with such a connection, no matter how many bulbs there are in the chandelier, when turned on, they will all light up.

It happens that the third wire in the chandelier or wiring is superfluous (the “ground” is not provided in the lighting fixture or power line).

In the case of a chandelier, we simply ignore this conclusion (this will not affect performance in any way), but the ground wire of the wiring will need to be insulated.

In general, this is a general scheme for connecting a chandelier and it is identical for everyone, but there are some nuances that will be indicated below.

A little about the wiring. To do this, you can use both terminal blocks and ordinary twisting, followed by insulation with protective caps.

Each connection method has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Terminals are more convenient for installation, but it is not always possible to install it.

The twist is more compact in size, but it is not always possible to twist the wires with high quality.

Read on the topic: Wiring connections, how to twist wires correctly.

Two-gang switch – chandelier

Now about how to connect the chandelier to the two-gang switch.

Since the number of lamps and their division into groups can be very different, we will consider several options:

• “The switch is a chandelier for two lamps.” Since it was mentioned that in such a switch the phase is divided into two lines, for opening the circuit of which its own key is intended, then 3-4 cores should come out on the ceiling (two phase, zero and “ground”). It is assumed that each key will power its own lamp. To connect everything, you must first decide where the phase and zero conclusions are. We take the wires of each of the horns, separate two of the same color (for example, blue), twist them and connect them to the zero output of the power line. It remains to deal with the brown wires of the chandelier. Each of them individually must be connected to the phase terminals of the wiring. In total, three connections should be obtained – two phase (with brown wires) and one zero (with double blue wires);
• “The switch is a three-arm chandelier.” The peculiarity of this scheme is reduced only to the correct separation of the wires. Since there are three lamps, and there are only two keys (which means there are two phase wires), one of them will power two chandelier bulbs at the same time. As a result, we also get three connections. Let’s start with zero. To do this, select each horn and one wire of the same color (blue), twist them all together and connect to the neutral wire. There are three brown wires left. Two of them are twisted and connected to one of the phase conductors, and the third to the second phase;
• “Switch – 4-, 5-, 6-horn chandelier.” Here the connection scheme is the same as above, that is, the total number of connections will be three. As before, we twist all the wires of the same color (blue) into one twist and connect it to the zero core (here it is the twist that is more suitable, not the terminal block). We divide the remaining wires into two halves (for example, in a 4-horn chandelier, you can divide them so that when one key is turned on, two parallel bulbs light up). We twist each half of the wires and connect them to one of the phase wires. We do the same with the other part of the wires.

One switch – several chandeliers

Now consider how to connect several chandeliers to one switch. Here you will have to consider the features of the power line.

For example, let’s take a single-key switch, from which three chandeliers will be powered at once.

The scheme of the lighting line with this switch is as follows: phase and zero go from the shield to the junction box.

A wire goes into it from the phase core to the switch, and returns to it again.

As a result, we have a zero and a phase in the box (with a switch included in the circuit), to which you can connect the wiring leading to the consumer.

Therefore, in order to connect three chandeliers at once to this switch, it is enough to throw one common line and insert the phase and neutral wires of lighting fixtures into it.

Moreover, the connection of each chandelier to a common line is best done in junction boxes (they must be additionally installed). And then, in the chandelier itself, divide it into horns (branches).

Connecting a chandelier with additional equipment

Now about connecting the chandelier in which the fan is mounted. This lighting device does not require anything extra special for connection, since the fan is the same consumer as a regular light bulb (that is, the circuit is the same as that of a two-arm chandelier).

It should be connected to a two-gang switch so that it is possible to turn off the light or fan if necessary.

Also, when connecting such a chandelier, you should read the instructions, which should indicate which of the wires going to power the fan is phase and which is zero, and use this information when connecting.

The same applies to chandeliers, which provide remote control using the remote control.

Inside such a device there will be a special execution unit with a controller that receives signals from the remote control.

So, this unit requires power, and it is carried out according to the same principle as a light bulb.

But in chandeliers with LED lamps, the lighting elements work from a 12V network with direct current. And for this, a step-down transformer is present in the design of the lighting device, in which there are phase and zero terminals.

Connecting this chandelier is as easy as connecting a regular light bulb.

Sometimes there is a need to install a combined switch to power the chandelier, combined with a socket.

And here the whole feature lies precisely in connecting the knife switch itself, and not the lighting device.

Since there is an outlet, in order for it to function, both phase and zero must be connected to it.

And if only a phase conductor was connected to a conventional switch, then in a combined one, a neutral conductor will also have to be laid. The connection diagram of such a switch is shown below.

There are cases when the part of the supply wiring protruding from the ceiling is not enough to connect the chandelier. In this case, they can simply be increased.

To do this, you can take two pieces of copper wire with a cross section of at least 1,5 mm. sq. and connect them to the line terminals with a twist. Then the joints should be insulated with high quality.

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accident prevention

When connecting a chandelier, do not forget about safety. All work should be carried out only with de-energized wiring. Moreover, simply turning off the line at the switch is not enough, it should be de-energized at the switchboard.

Be very careful about the distribution of wiring before connecting.

If the instructions contain connection recommendations, they must be followed.

All connections must be of good quality. If terminal blocks are used, then the clamps should be well tightened, and in the case of twists, the wires should be tightened with pliers. All uncovered joints require high-quality insulation.

Read on the topic – the technology of installing a chandelier on a stretch ceiling.

Only perform health checks after all connections have been isolated.