I was looking to fit some Philips Hue LED bulbs, but they only come with Edison screw fittings (E27) and every light fitting in our house is bayonet (B22). I initially looked into using adapters but I was concerned about the quality and couldn't find a reputable brand. Is this something that I can change myself? For the avoidance of doubt, I live in the UK and I am not a qualified electrician.
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1It is worth mentioning that Philips Hue now come with B22 (bayonet) fitting as well.– Tor KlingbergJan 31, 2017 at 10:01
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I was curious so I looked it up, and for the avoidance of doubt, in case anyone reading this question is wondering, replacing a light fitting is non-notifiable under Part P of the building regulations and therefore does not require a qualified person to either do the work nor to certify it as sound.– Tom WDec 27, 2017 at 12:10
3 Answers
it's usually pretty easy to change the fittings:
- make sure electricity is off (turn off the breaker that powers the light)
- double check the electricity is off
- loosen the screws that hold it up on the ceiling and keep the wires attached. Remember which wire is connected to the ground (bare/green or yellow green striped wire), live (red, orange or blue wire) and neutral (black wire) connections. If your house is newer then the colors may be different: green/yellow stripe for ground, brown/black or gray for live and blue for neutral
- connect the wires as indicated in the manual for the new fitting
- attach the new fitting to the ceiling
- put in new bulb
- turn electricity back on, if the breaker doesn't want to stay on you did something wrong and should inspect what you did wrong before trying to "fix" the breaker.
- toggle the switch and bask in your accomplishment.
It is quite easy as ratchet freak described. The only problem is if your old lamp shade or similar will still fit. E27 is wider.
DO NOT USE A B22 TO E27 CONVERTER!!! You can put a bayonet bulb in either way and it still works because the two pins are underneath. The E27 only has ONE pin for live, BUT, put a converter in one of the two ways and the screw section may be LIVE - you might be able to touch the outer live area as you screw in the bulb.
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