Two-way and intermediate switches

John · 2010-06-30T19:37:40+00:00

I'm no electrician but my mate reckons that you can have as many intermediate switches as you want on a two-way circuit (think switching the landing light on downstairs before going to bed but it's a long landing with six rooms - he wants each room to have its own switch on the landing).I reckon that you can have the two two-way switches as normal, with one intermediate switch. Who's correct - and if he's right, and you can have more than one intermediate switch, can anyone give a wiring diagram (preferably not ASCII as I can never make head nor tail of them)?Cheers and TIA

Jun 30, 2010 43 Replies

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Tim Watts 16 years ago

Andy Champ wibbled on Friday 02 July 2010 20:30

I agree with this. It would be much more logical in an everyman sense to refer to wire. It doesn't have to be power, the telephone signal is line. Live

Ditto.

Line is a silly term. Phase was well understood by engineers. It's not an EU thing because no one else speaks English (unless you include Eire).

Using "Live" for Live on one hand, then Live and Neutral in nearly the same breath is pillockism at its finest. If they wanted to, they could have called L/N "Line" which would have been a more reasonable use of the term, and left Live and Neutral where 95% of the population understood.

Bah.

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John Rumm 16 years ago

You seem to be assuming the term was designated for the benefit of the user. It wasn't.

Most folks would probably be happy with "mains voltage" without further qualification as hi, low, or anything else.

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Grimly Curmudgeon 16 years ago

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember John Rumm saying something like:

And so it shouldn't be put into a diy wiki, ffs.

Exactly.

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John Rumm 16 years ago

The term is widely used in BS7671 and the OSG, so if you plan to DIY electrics in some accordance with these docs, then it is just something you need to understand and accept.

The wiki references the OSG and BS7671 fairly often, so I can't see a problem including the term. It would however be worth adding an article that explains the terminology for new readers IMHO.

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