this ones doing my head in..

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andson

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i have two way lighting in my lounge/dinning room, ie, two light switches in both rooms, so any the lights can be switched on and off any room. her in doors brought a dimmer for the lounge so i proceeded to change the original switch 2 commons at the top, and a 1 way and 2 way for each switch. it was wired using twin and earth from the ceiling rose in the lounge and 3 core and earth for the rest the cables are going at the moment grey to common one switch has two brown wires going to the 2 way terminal on the one switch and the 2 way terminal has a the neutral from the rose and a switched live. the other side of the switch again has a grey common, one brown cable going to the 1 way and one switched live going to 2 way terminal. the new dimmer has 1 common for each side one L1 and one L2 on each side, the commons are ok, but the rest i connected as L1 would be 1 way and L2 would be 2way, but it doesnt work. the switch was taken back and exchanged but the new one had the same results, what the hell am i doing wrong....

cheers andy..

 
I have two way lighting in my lounge/dinning room, ie, two light switches in both rooms, so any the lights can be switched on and off any room.Brought a dimmer for the lounge so I proceeded to change the original switch 2 commons at the top, and a 1 way and 2 way for each switch.

It was wired using twin and earth from the ceiling rose in the lounge and 3 core and earth for the rest the cables are going at the moment grey to common one switch has two brown wires going to the 2 way terminal on the one switch and the 2 way terminal has a the neutral from the rose and a switched live.

The other side of the switch again has a grey common, one brown cable going to the 1 way and one switched live going to 2 way terminal.

The new dimmer has 1 common for each side one L1 and one L2 on each side, the commons are Ok, but the rest i connected as L1 would be 1 way and L2 would be 2way, but it doesn't work.

The switch was taken back and exchanged but the new one had the same results, what the hell am i doing wrong....

cheers andy..
that's easier to read..

:D

 
Andson

You should not have any neutral connected to the switch. When you take switch off mark were cables went on old switch and rewire back the same on new switch.

Batty

 
AndsonYou should not have any neutral connected to the switch. When you take switch off mark were cables went on old switch and rewire back the same on new switch.

Batty
I suspect he means the switched live..

 
The Neutral and switched live were mention, Ext.

 
Yes.

Live was mentioned, Neutral & switched live. I'll get your coat too.

Oh, Hang On.... They won't let me back in. :_|

 
Yes.Live was mentioned, Neutral & switched live. I'll get your coat too.

Oh, Hang On.... They won't let me back in. :_|
But he probably thinks the blue is neutral (or black as the case may be).........

And he hasn't mentioned a neutral block has he?

;)

Anyway let's wait till he gets back on line...

 
Hi,

you have described it very poorly! :(

There are two common ways to wire a 2way. One way - which sounds similar to yours is to:

Feed (live and neutral) to the ceiling rose, then a live from there to switch 1 common, the a switched live from switch 1 l1 back to the light - same cable.

Then three core and earth from each terminal on switch 1 to the same terminals on switch 2.

As has been stated don't get mixed up with the colours and their actual usage.

D.

 
Try a picture..

they say it speaks a thousand words!!!

T&E from light to switch1, then 3core&E to second switch.

Your T&E wire from your light switch needs to go onto L1 & L2 at switch 1, (NOT common!)

And your 3core&E just goes Like-4-Like between the two switches! :)

thats page 55 in the old 16th ed, brown O-S-Guide..

or same picture on page 63 in the ALL NEW 17th ed, Red O-S-Guide... ;)

 
Your T&E wire from your light switch needs to go onto L1 & L2 at switch 1, (NOT common!)

And your 3core&E just goes Like-4-Like between the two switches! :)
Forgot to add on my earlier post...

remember that some manufactures call there switch terminations different names...

e.g.

Crabtree standard white plastic plates switch use

common termination is 'L1', (No 'C' or common designation),

two-way switch terminations are 'L2' & 'L3'

whereas on their Crabtree low profile flush plate dimmer switch..

common termination is '~' (The squiggle sine wave AC symbol),

two-way switch terminations are 'L1' & 'L2'

others just call them 'C', 'L1', 'L2'

so you can have;

'C' or 'L1' or '~' for your commons.

and 'L1' or 'L2' or 'L3' for your two-way switch terminations!

so if the same manufacture calls them different designations....

what chance with different manufactures products?

So its just nice that its all clear as MUD and nice and standard!! :p ; \ :| :(

 
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