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I have just moved house and have brought a dimmable multi-bulb ceiling light with me. It needs to be connected with an anchor to the ceiling.

Here is the light.

Light

The light above is attached to the sides of this anchor, which is then screwed to the ceiling.

Light anchor

In my old house, there was only one light on the circuit so it was straightforward to wire. However, in the current room, the light is one of several and the ceiling rose is wired in a standard way like this.

Wiring of ceiling rose

Here is the actual ceiling rose (with the wires for the pendant removed).

Ceiling rose wiring

My question is about how best to manage the wiring, as it seems that the anchor must take the place of the ceiling rose wiring block.

  1. Is is acceptable (in the UK) to substitute the ceiling rose wiring with connector strips within the small cavity between the light and the ceiling?

  2. Am I meant to be reattaching the ceiling rose underneath the anchor?

  3. Is there a better way to handle this?

The house is quite old and will need reworked at some point soon, so I am open to any identification of any problems in the existing wiring.

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I cannot believe that the ceramic ceiling connection block is to be removed unless it would be replaced with another one.

I would expect that the metal bar is to be held with screws through some of the pairs of holes in the ceramic block penetrating into the wood structure above. I see what looks like breakaway covers over extra holes just outside the ones with the brass wood screws. What is the distance between those holes? What is the distance between the slots in the metal bar? Are these the same?

EDIT

Yes, I am referring to the two on the same line as the holes with the brass wood screws with are being used to hold the connection block. I believe that the projections on the ends of the bar go up toward the ceiling. If the slots in the mounting bar are the same distance as the inner pair of holes, you could break away the covers on the outer holes and shift the brass screws to those outer holes. Then use the inner holes to secure the mounting strap. If there is not enough clearance for the wires (with the projections on the bar projecting up), you'd have to get some spacers.

EDIT2

Another possibility would be to drill two new holes further out in the mounting bar. You should find out how this type of ceiling fixture is normally installed in the UK. This is not something to try to puzzle out on your own.

EDIT

Looks like I was completely wrong! See this video for installation in the UK. Video

EDIT

It could be that one could remove the ceiling rosette temporarily to place the bar against the ceiling (end tabs down of course), then replace the rosette on top of the bar. The fact that the slots in the bar would line up with the holes in the rosette suggests that this was intended as a possibility. This would allow the use of the connection block instead of getting a bunch of individual connectors for the various wires. I don't know if the UK fixtures have enough clearance under the shroud for the rosette and whether this is a practice in the UK. To do this one would place the bar on the ceiling so that the mounting slots line up with the existing holes in the ceiling then mark the countersunk hole for drilling a pilot hole and secure the bar to the ceiling with a single screw in the countersunk hole in the bar, then secure the rosette over the bar through the lined up holes of rosette and bar.

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  • Yes the distance between the non-circular holes on the metal bar is the same as the wood screw holes on the ceiling rose. The bar seems to obstruct the path of cables from the ceiling void, but I hadn’t thought to use the breakaway holes - are they the ones parallel from the existing ceiling fastening?
    – Chris
    Sep 24, 2018 at 17:20
  • See edited answer. I gather this is in the UK. You need to get someone based in the UK to provide answer. Sep 24, 2018 at 17:30
  • In the US ceramic light fixture bases have breakout holes for mounting in different size boxes, but I am only guessing about the existence of breakaway covers on your connection block. Don't break them out without explicit information that this is to be done. Sep 24, 2018 at 17:54
  • See edit to see video youtube.com/watch?v=WZizlnLfLks Sep 24, 2018 at 18:13
  • That video is a great answer to my query - I hadn’t found it in my searches.
    – Chris
    Sep 24, 2018 at 19:09

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