It is not necessary to resort to the help of professionals to illuminate your apartment. Connecting the lighting fixture yourself is not difficult. As a rule, regardless of the type of chandelier, the connection principle does not differ much. The most important thing is to follow safety precautions. After determining the format of the lamp and the type of switch, you can safely proceed to connect the chandelier using the information below.
How to choose a chandelier?
It depends solely on your personal preferences and imagination. Today, construction markets and specialized stores are full of a great variety of lighting fixtures. Differences of lamps are built mainly on the principles of fastening the chandelier. This is either a ceiling mount or a suspended structure. But the appearance differs both in the number of horns and in the intensity of illumination. You can choose the design and complexity for every taste and color.
The difference in connection principles is not significant. It does not matter whether you choose a chandelier with one shade or decide to connect a chandelier with a remote control. It is worth paying attention to which lamps are provided in the lamp you like - modern LEDs or the usual halogen, fluorescent or outdated incandescent lamps in their own way. Choose a chandelier that suits you in terms of price-quality ratio and the design you like. After purchasing a lighting device, it is necessary to check the integrity of the product and the complete availability of components in the store.
What do you need to connect?
Whether a professional connects electrical appliances or not, you should always remember about safety. Wear rubber gloves when handling bare wires. To clean the insulation, you will need a construction knife or wire cutters with rubberized handles. Some types of wires cannot be stripped with wire cutters or pliers without damaging the cross section. To isolate the twists, it is best to purchase special plastic caps or terminals. Insulating tape should be avoided. This method is not safe, the electrical tape quickly dries out, which can lead to unpleasant consequences in the form of short circuits or a fire. A test screwdriver with a light indicator or a voltmeter is required to recognize the purpose of the wires.
Depending on the type of chandelier (for example, if additional installation of a chandelier fixture is required), mayyou will need a puncher, dowels, screws, screwdrivers and a drill.
Important to remember
When working with electricity on your own, it is not necessary to take special courses or study special materials, but it is very important to remember a few points:
- The handle of any tool used must be well insulated to avoid electric shock.
- Be sure to wear rubber gloves when working with bare wires, they will serve as a good protection against high voltage.
- Be sure to turn off the electricity before starting work. Not just turn off the light on the switch, but completely de-energize the room.
- It is important to correctly distribute the wires to their intended purpose before connecting them. Use ordinary markers of different colors to mark each wire, both on the wiring of the room and on the installed lamp.
- Check the performance of control devices before direct use. Testers, multimeters, voltmeters and control screwdrivers must be checked before starting work. You can check the tool on a working outlet or in a distribution panel.
- Never connect wires of different alloys together. This will cause oxidation, which will cause overheating and, at best, a short circuit, at worst, a fire.
- Firmly mount the fixtures for the chandelier. Carefully check the number of mounting grooves, and regardless of the configuration (for example, there are 4 holes in the bracket, and 2 dowels), it is better to fix the dowel with nails in all the provided grooves.
Connection diagramchandeliers
Before starting work, you must make sure that the wires coming from the ceiling are assigned. An indicator screwdriver will help with this. As a rule, 3 wires come out: working 0 conductor, phase, protective 0 conductor. If, when touched with a screwdriver, the indicator light lights up - this is a phase, if not - 0 conductor. Having identified the neutral wire, mark it with a marker, then turn off the electricity in the room. Ideally, the wires coming out from above and the wires of the chandelier match in color. In this case, the cords are twisted together and the joints are insulated. The easiest and safest way is to isolate the wires with special plastic caps.
This is the simplest method of connecting a chandelier to a standard switch. When you turn on the light, all the bulbs will light up at the same time.
Connecting a chandelier to a double switch
In this option, the process is not much more complicated, you should also first disassemble the purpose of the outgoing wires. In any case, one will be grounding, i.e. zero, and two phase - for each switch key. It is important that the switch be turned on at this point.
Then the electricity in the room is turned off, the "zero" is also connected to a similar chandelier wire, and the phases are distributed between the horns. The wire connection is insulated similarly to the first method, with plastic caps. This connection of the chandelier allows you to adjust the intensity of lighting in the room. It is very convenient.
If design with remote control
HowAre you connecting a chandelier with a remote control? The modern world is replete with a variety of lighting fixtures. Chandeliers with a remote control are in increasing demand. They are able to adjust the intensity of lighting, change colors, turn on and off the light at a given time in the timer, and in the most innovative models, light can be combined with music, enjoying unique lighting effects and light music.
Installation of such a lamp is a bit more complicated than connecting a chandelier to a double switch. It is necessary to carefully check the package when buying. When connecting the wires, you will need an assistant. You need it to hold the chandelier while you connect the wires.
The first step is to determine the purpose of the outgoing wires. On such devices, the controller is installed in the inner part, the wires are already separated. Next, a mount for the chandelier is installed on the ceiling. It is important to correctly mark out the fasteners and drill holes according to the markup so that the chandelier is exactly in place. Depending on the installation method, you will need from 2 to 6 dowels. Try to fix it as firmly as possible, for your own safety. Wires are neatly routed into the installed bracket. The connection of wires is best done through the terminal. Then the remaining parts are assembled step by step.
It remains to turn on the electricity, check the performance of all the functions provided and reap the benefits of the work done.
If a chandelier with five lights
How is a 5-light chandelier connected?Such designs are a real decoration of the interior. They are multifaceted, amazingly shimmery and illuminate the room well. The connection of the chandelier can be either on a two-gang switch (the lighting can be adjusted), or on a standard, single switch. In the latter case, all the lamps will turn on at once. The choice is made solely from personal preference, as there are no particular difficulties in installation.
Work begins with a standard definition of wire assignment. Phase and ground are detected. The distribution of wires is carried out on the chandelier. As a rule, 3 lamps are connected to one key, 2 to another. After the wires are "scattered", the connection is not difficult. Be sure to turn off the electricity in the room in which the work is carried out. The wires of the chandelier and the wiring of the room are connected. For connection, it is best to use terminals. It is convenient, neat, reliable.
Connecting a switch to a chandelier with one key is even easier. There is no need to distribute wires between the switch buttons, and all 5 cords are directly connected to each other and connected to electricity. Before starting work, it will still be necessary to distribute the phase and ground, and only then proceed with the connection with the wires of the chandelier.
What if the number of wires doesn't match?
After an exhausting campaign for a chandelier, having reviewed thousands of options, hundreds of species, finally finding the one, when trying to install the device, it turns out that the number of wiring wiresapartments and chandeliers do not match. What to do? You still need to install. In fact, the difference in the number of wires is not a problem. There are several options for mounting the chandelier to the ceiling:
- 2 wires come out of the ceiling and 3 or more wires come out of the light fixture.
- There are 3 free cords coming out of the ceiling, and only 2 cords coming out of the chandelier.
Both cases are discussed below.
If there are more wires in the chandelier than in the wiring
First of all, you need to disassemble the wires. As a rule, if the chandelier has a lot of horns, it is designed for a two-key switch. Hence the number of wires. In modern chandeliers, the connection diagram is already distributed. The wiring inside the chandelier is divided depending on the number of lamps. Several options are determined: change the single-key switch to a two-key one (then you can also adjust the degree of illumination), or connect all the bulbs to one switch.
If the switch is replaced, then we connect the wires of the chandelier using the terminal and create a jumper for parallel connection of the cartridges. And then - the standard connection of wires according to the scheme described above.
It is very important when buying to pay attention to the chandelier connection scheme recommended by the manufacturer. This will insure against mistakes and facilitate the process of installing lighting equipment in the room.
If there are more wires in the wiring than in the chandelier
In this case, most likely the chandelier is single-arm, and the switch is two-gang. Getting started - the definition of phase wires, it is necessary to mark "zero". Then there are several ways. Mosta simple option on how to connect a chandelier with two wires is to connect the phase, “zero” and check if the light is on. If it is on, then you need to isolate the connections and fix the chandelier.
It is more difficult to understand the wires and connect using the terminal. It is necessary to connect the necessary wires, and connect the switch cords with a jumper. You can connect the wires of the switch in the terminal in one clamp, and create a jumper directly on the switch.
Conclusion
So, we figured out how to properly connect the chandelier in the house with our own hands. By following the simple tips above, it is quite easy to install any lighting fixture yourself. The main thing is to remember safety precautions, carefully study the connection diagram before starting work and concentrate as much as possible. Doing something for the house with your own hands is more pleasant and much cheaper than calling a team of professionals. The chandelier is not such a complicated device, so almost anyone can handle the installation, even without experience.
