have I bought the wrong switches?

[Neil]

Please can someone assist me regarding an issue with replacing existing light switches in my bedroom with new ones (already purchased).

There is main single switch at the bedroom door which controls the main bedroom ceiling lights. The wiring was as follows:

red wire to COMMON terminal red and yellow to L2 terminal Black and Blue to L1 Terminal

This switch was replaced (with what I presume is a like for like switch entilted 10 amp single 2 way). The other light switch involved in the circuit is a double (i will describe this later but essentially it will also control the main ceiling lights in addition to two wall lights on the dorma window)

As i have stated the above single switch was replaced with terminals matched like for like, it was demo'd and did switch the main ceiling lights on and off. (I did not try the wall mounted double switch at this stage as it had not been changed so I am unable to tell you if the double switch operated in the same way as it has done after the main single switch changeover.

I then proceeded to change the double switch for something which was like for like visibly on the front and back two switches on front and on the back double the amount of terminals there was on the single one. The new double switch is a 10 amp double 2 way the connection transposed from the original double switch are again below

L1 Yellow L2 Blue

[Andy Wade]

That's OK. The red and black (cable 1) are the 'switch drop' from the light, ceiling rose or its associated junction box. The red, yellow and blue (cable 2) go to the other switch. This switch is a 1-gang 2-way.

This is a 2-gang 2-way switch, one gang of which is being used as a 1-way.

As described it's all wired OK (ignoring details like the fact that all the non-red wires should have red ident sleeves on). You're saying that the ceiling lights can only be switched on from one of the 2-way switches? Check the connection of the blue and yellow wires of cable 2 at both ends. Either one of these is not connected properly at one or both ends, or you have a faulty switch (far less likely).

[Lurch]

On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 10:38:39 +0000, Andy Wade mused:

Brown nowadays. ;)

[Andy Wade]

So if you add missing sleeves to old-colour wiring should you use brown or red? I think it would be less confusing to use red, since that's what should have been there in the first place.

[Lurch]

On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 14:03:48 +0000, Andy Wade mused:

Yeah, but as I have no red sleeving left then it's going to have to be brown, or any other colour as it doesn't matter anymore. I've never been too bothered about what colour the wires are, if you take a switch off the wall and you don't know what the wires are by what they're connected to rather than what colour sleeving they have on them then you shouldn't be in the back of a switch in the first place!

[Andy Wade]

I quite agree, except that the sleeve on the switched live arriving back at the rose (or wherever) is well worth having to prevent that wire getting mixed up with the neutrals.

[Neil]

im still struggling with this andy i have the double operating as i want i.e left hand switch switches wall lights on and off and right hand main lights on and off however the main switch wont switch anything unless i switch the main lights off on the double switch and then the single switch lets me turn the wall light on and off all right except for the last bit which requires main switch to off/on the main light not the wall light. ps is it safe to leave like this overnight in your opinion?

[Lurch]

On 19 Feb 2007 10:54:08 -0800, "Neil" mused:

Red wires mixed up in the double switch?

Not exactly sure what they symptoms are tbh, I'm struggling to follow your description and DIY terminaology differs from professional terminology at times!

[Andy Wade]

I think it's like this:

Ceiling lights with 2-way switching; 1-gang 2-way switch by door; other end of the 2-way cct. is one side of a 2-gang switch elsewhere. The other gang of this switch is a 1-way for wall lights. Standard T&E /3&E wiring.

Symptoms I think are (please correct if wrong):

- wall lights work OK;

- ceiling lights, if on, can be switched off from either end of the

2-way cct, but if off can only be switched on from one end of the 2-way cct.

If this is so it clearly points to an open circuit one of the two outer strappers of the 2-way cct - the pair between L1 and L2 of the 2-way switches (yellow and blue as described in the original article).