Hi guys,

I have been enjoying DIY state that one rents appartments in Germany, but I have a tough nut to crack with hooking up one of my ceiling lights, so I thought some of you may help.

The light has 2 blubs and 6 plug-ins (as in the photo), which I suppose 2 are L (Live), 2 are G (Ground) and 2 are N (Neutral) – I may be wrong, but it seems denoted as such.

Out of my ceiling, 5 wires are coming out:
1 Brown
2 Black
1 Blue
1 Yellow-green

I suppouse the Brown/Blacks are L, Blue is N and the Yellow-green is G.

There are 2 switches on the wall (as in the photo) and I tested the wires with a voltage tester screwdriver (a simple Spannungsprüfer).
One of the switch brings electricity 1 brown and 1 black wire (simultaneously), while the other switch brings electricity to the other 1 black wire.

I have two questions:

  1. How do you hook it up since there seems to have 3L / 1G / 1N wires, while the plug-in on the light seems to be 2L / 2G / 2N?

  2. If I hook only one switch (e.g. the Brown in one L, the Blue in N and Yellow-Green in G), could I possibly use both light blubs? Does it matter which plug in (since there are 2 of each?
    We do not care if one switch lights up the two blubs.

Cheers and many thanks!

P.S. I tried browsing the sub, but seems similar information not here.

P.P.S. We tried getting a electrician, but they do not seem to accept such small jobs (and they cost over 150 eur…). Ofc we will switch off the electricity from the main box when fixing.

by WhateverWorks-123

4 comments

  1. Use BR, BL, and GNYE wires.

    Connect them like this: L=BR; N=BL; Ground=GNYE

    The remaining black ones you don’t use but you need to insulate them separately. Ideally you would use a WAGO connector for this or reuse those two white connectors that are already on the wires.

    Or you can use the old wiring. The ones that have the black tape on them are what was previously used to connect a light fixture.

    It’s really up to you which one of the two switches is more convenient for you to use.

  2. Call an electrician or someone with a shovel to fix the headspace…

  3. I had the same thing in my apartment. When we replaced the standard ceiling light with an old chandelier, it all made sense. With the two switches, you can turn on half the chandelier’s bulbs at a time. Or, if you press both, you turn them all on 🙂

  4. First of all, if you need to ask here, DON’T DO IT! The risk is too high to get electrocuted.

Comments are closed.