Hi
I ordered a new light switch to replace one that was faulty. Now I find that the new one has 2 connectors on it, whereas the old one has 3, fed by blue, yellow and red wires. This is a single switch / single light scenario. I opened up a switch nearby and saw that it has 3 red wires going to 2 connectors, 2 wires going to one connector and one to the other. Can someone advise please?
Thanks
Keith said the following on 19/11/2005 12:12:
The new switch (with two terminals) is a one-way switch and is for a circuit where there is only one light switch for a light or group of lights.
The old switch (with three terminals) is a two-way switch and is required where you want to switch the same light or group of lights from two different positions. There is a special way of wiring two-way lighting which uses a three-core cable.
As your old switch is two-way and has a three-core cable, it looks like you have a two-way circuit (or at least you did once!).
As for the second switch you looked at, if there are blue, red and yellow wires in there as well, it may be the other end of a two-way switching arrangement that isn't wired properly!
If you don't want to investigate further, your best bet is to order a new 2-way switch and wire it up exactly the same way as your old one.
It sounds like it is wired as a "two way" switch - i.e. two switches controlling a single light.
For this you will need a 2 way switch which has the third terminal. (in fact when you buy light switches, you may as well always buy the 2 way version since it hadly costs any more and it can be used for both 1 and
2 ways switching).
Perhaps the second switch existed at one time and has been removed.
If all you want to do is replace the one switch, and everything works as it is, then get yourself a 2 way switch and replace like for like. Job done.
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