For some reason this house has a 2g plate with 4 light switches, only 2 of which do anything. Although we've been here for nearly 3 years I still operate the wrong damn switches. I don't want to mess-up the decoration (yet) in this part of the house so ... can anyone here point me at a white 2g plate with only 2 switches? I suppose I could use a euro plate and a couple of blanks if all else fails, but these look a little office'y
MK 3gang grid plate (plus yoke) with one blank way?
look better than a euro plate. A tad expensive with all the bits, but probably the best solution (unless there's a 2g plate with 2 switches on it, which I've failed to find)
Scolmore?
MD024WH
A double width switch and two of them could sit side by side like a wedding using a
MD024WH
Why don't you wire the left pair as two-way for one light, and the right pair as two-way for the other light?
Or in parallel, so either switch down = light on, both switches up = light off.
Owain
If the switches are 2w types, wire adjacent pairs to form a 2 way switching circuit (as you have on stairs etc). Then all you need to get right is the pair to make the correct light work.
Not ideal but (perhaps) an improvement.
Swap that second one for a
CMA404
You don't say if this is surface mount or not. If it is, a bit of a lateral solution is an MK K2025 (twin surface box) with two single plateswitches (or one dual plateswitch and a blanking plate).
You're missing an opportunity. For each light, use one switch for on/off, the other for full/dim. Just need a capacitor.
NT
The question is why is it there to start with. I'm sure you have looked inside, but I've seen some terrible things done, like whole lighting circuits buried in plaster but still live etc. Brian
Thanks! I hadn't heard of Scolmore before. That would have been the most elegant solution BUT Owain's suggestion of wiring pairs of the existing switches as 2-way will do until I get to that part of the house and sort it out properly.
A brilliant suggestion; that's the simplest way forward for now.
A great idea (that I hadn't thought of) but Owain was 11 minutes ahead of you ;-)
There's been no shortage of electrical surprises in this house, but this isn't one of them. I think the light in the entrance lobby and the outside light were once controlled by the unused switches, but these are now on PIRs from some (currently unknown) source. I'll sort it out when I get to that part of the house, which won't be for a while.
:-)
Wiring as two way is better. In parallel connection it will only work satisfactorily if everyone remembers that down is on and to choose the right switch to operate given the state of the light. Otherwise there are states where choosing a random switch may have no effect on the light. Which would be irritating.
can't you re-purpose them to energise some of those small round pin plugs/sockets rated at 5 amps, and use for table lamps or whatever.?
It's one of the manufacturers I usually name on here as I believe they are pretty good. It is what I fit as standard mainly due to their MiniGrid and NewMedia stuff.
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