Old Braided Cloth Insulated Wiring??? No Colours

[bonnetboy]

Hi All, Hopefully someone can help me. (I am a complete beginner, but hoping to learn lots)
My wife & I have just moved into an house & have just started doing up a few areas. I am hoping to work out the wiring in the garage.
Now there are 2 main wires suspended from the house going down to the garage. The 2 wires go straight into a small box about the size of a ciggarette packet. This small box seems to be attached to a length of metal tubing which seems to be where the wires go. Now at the other end of the tubing there are 4 wires exiting the pipe. 3 are insulated in a braided cloth type coating & the 4th is bare. Just before the end of this tubing, it branches off down to a single light switch.
At the end of the main tubing 2 of the insulated wires go to what looks like it used to be an old light fitting but is just 3 wires now. The 3rd wire from the non exsistant light fitting runs into another metal tube along with the 2 other wires from the first tube. These all run down to an old power point & switch.
One of the insulated wires runs straight into the switch then into the top right of the 3 pronged socket. The 2nd insulated wire runs into the top left of the socket. The 3rd wire is bare & runs straight into the bottom of the socket.

Now when I connect my multimeter up to the 3 connections of the socket I get a reading of 240V when I touch the top right & the bottom ones. No others will give a reading. Nothing will work when plugged into this power socket. This is my reason for believing that this is wired up wrong somewhere.

Hopefully someone can tell me what wire is what. It would be so much easier if they were colour coded the usual Brown, Green, Blue !!!!

Thanks in advance
Dan

[Lynne]

Have you tried perhaps flipping a switch located on the outside of the house

I don't know much about wiring but a similar problem occured at my Aunts's house and the plug in the shed a separate building from the house would only work when we switched a switch on an outside plug that had a switch and a plug on it. Maybe this will work to supply power to the plug you are referring to. Good Luck

[bonnetboy]

Originally Posted by Lynne

Have you tried perhaps flipping a switch located on the outside of the house

I don't know much about wiring but a similar problem occured at my Aunts's house and the plug in the shed a separate building from the house would only work when we switched a switch on an outside plug that had a switch and a plug on it. Maybe this will work to supply power to the plug you are referring to. Good Luck

Thanks for the reply, but no, there is no switch in or anywhere around the house. There is power to the garage as I said, but I believe its wired up wrong.
Can anyone point me in the right direction for rewiring. As I said, it would be a lot easier for me if they had the normal colour coding that they do now days (brown, blue, green).
Dan

[HayZee518]

if 240 volts is normal in ozland then the two lines from the house are a hot 240 and a neutral. look for a screw in porcelain fuse and holder somewhere on the line inside the house. the crowfoot receptacle you pictured looks wired correctly. that third wire looks to be a ground wire that was generated locally either through the tubing or from a driven ground rod at the garage.

[bonnetboy]

Where the 3 wires are hanging for a light fitting. Should 2 of these wires be joined together to complete the circuit for the power point to work properly? If so, which 2?
I have some fluro lights I would like to put up in the garage but not sure which wires to connect them to.

[HayZee518]

the ballast's connection for 120 volt is black and white on the primary. the secondary [that which goes to the lamps] is two yellow, a pair of blue and a pair of red (or pink)
I'm thinking for 240 or 277 the primary lead is orange.
can you purchase an induction type voltage tester there in australlia? with this instrument you can test for the hot wire without actually touching it.

[bonnetboy]

Originally Posted by HayZee518

the ballast's connection for 120 volt is black and white on the primary. the secondary [that which goes to the lamps] is two yellow, a pair of blue and a pair of red (or pink)
I'm thinking for 240 or 277 the primary lead is orange.
can you purchase an induction type voltage tester there in australlia? with this instrument you can test for the hot wire without actually touching it.

Whoa, Sorry but that all when over my head. All wires are white except for the one thats bare with no covering/insulation.

I have a standard mini multimeter. But dont fully know how to use it to work out what wire is what. Sorry If this is annoying but I do want to learn instead of getting someone else to do it for me. Plus having to pay some extraordinary amount to get someone to fix it when it may just be a simple thing that I could do (if I new what I was doing).
Dan

[Snoonyb]

Standard elec. power for Australia is 240V.
You are going to need to establish which of the conductors that enter the building is the hot leg.(The pair represent a hot pair).
In the small box where your wires enter the garage, a junction or "J" box in general language, these will, Individually, have been melded together to form the multiple sets of wires you wish to Identify.

A tool similar to any of these non-contact testers may give you the answer;
http://www.professionalequipment.com...Google&start=1, or Google, voltage detector.
Conduct this test with the use of a ladder, outside the building. However, if there is an indication of voltage on both conductors----Plan "B".
You'll need to find or establish a ground.
All of the following should be in the general proximity of the garage.
"Find" a metal water pipe that disappears into the ground or into concrete.
If the building walls are bolted to concrete.
"Establish" by driving a metallic rod into the ground.

Attach a length of any colored conductor, 14ga. will do, to which ever of the above are available, long enough to "schlep" (drag for you in rio-linda) to the farthest extremity of where you'll need to conduct a test.

Start at the "J" box.
When you have Identified the hot leg, you can either follow it via voltage test, or with the power off, via continuity.