You want neutral in from plug connected to neutral out to light (not connected to the switch at all)
Live in from plug to COM on switch.
Switched live out to light from L1 or L2.
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5 years ago
What outdoor switch
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5 years ago
ok, both in the COM terminal was only intended to prove the light works. Now move one of the wires from COM to the L2 / 2 way terminal. Light should then switch ok.
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5 years ago
Is that one of the live wires to L2 / 2 way terminal or one of the neutrals. Just checking before I do it.
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5 years ago
Plug neutral is connected to the light neutral by a choc block and plug live is connected to the 2 way or L2, while the light live is connected to com.
And now Eurika! it works.
The switch led is on when the light is off, which may be a good thing, as it can be seen in darkness.
Thanks for your help and patience.
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5 years ago
As I just replied to John Rumm post:
Plug neutral is connected to the light neutral by a choc block and plug live is connected to the 2 way or L2, while the light live is connected to com.
And now Eurika! it works.
The switch led is on when the light is off, which may be a good thing, as it can be seen in darkness.
Thanks for your help and patience.
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5 years ago
Definitely *not* the neutral! But which live you move will affect whether the neon works or not.
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5 years ago
good, don't forget the tidying-up exercises previously mentioned, also make sure the cables have strain relief so they don't get pulled out leaving exposed live ends etc.
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5 years ago
Yes , I'm going to do that tomorrow now.
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5 years ago
No it wasn't neutral, it was a live / brown wire I put into the 2 way /L2 port
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5 years ago
Excellent news...
Did you check the Earth like I said?
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5 years ago
Yes I did actually.
Thanks
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5 years ago
Good-oh - just checking. Saw your 2 core cable and the earth cut off on the other one. Not all light fittings are double insulated.
Strictly speaking, the IET Wiring regs require an earth at every lighting point even if the current fitting is double insulated (in case someone comes along and changes it to a Class I earthed fitting later).
But I'm guessing, by the fact you're using flex rather than T+E, this is a more "temporary" setup?
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5 years ago
Now I know how it should be connected/ wired , I'll sort everything else out tomorrow in daylight.
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5 years ago
Yup, that's the way its meant to work... (not much use the other way round!)
Well done for persevering!
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5 years ago
Great. It's nice when things one has assembled work!
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5 years ago
If you're wiring permanently with Twin&Earth (1mm2 or 1.5mm2 are both standard for lighting), don't forget some green+yellow sleeve for the earth wires (all bare wire must be sleeved inside fittings/switches/junction boxes. B&Q sell this.
And a bit of brown insulation tape *if* you end up running a switched live over the blue wire - need a wrap at each end to signify it's live. However, if you wire it as per your photo you won't need to do this as your blue will be neutral and your brown live.
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5 years ago
what worries me a little is that had already been answered.
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5 years ago
Generally I am not a fan of twisting wires together - it just makes disconnection for testing more difficult, and means you have to get all the wires in the right place at the same time without any easy ability to adjust their length or dress their position if required.
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5 years ago
Obviously different people have different ideas. At my electrical workshop course - admittedly 58 years ago, we were taught to twist. Mind you it was
3/029, 7/029 and 7/036 in those days, so probably different with solid cable. But I still use stranded in conduit since it's more flexible.- Vote on answer
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5 years ago
Yup there is a distinction between stranded and solid core. There is nothing wrong with twisting the individual ends of stranded wires to consolidate the strands. There is perhaps some benefit in twisting multiple standard wires together into a bigger bundle in some cases...
However twisting multiple solid cores together is less useful I find for the reasons above, plus it also tends work harden the copper more and make it more prone to breakage.
I suspect there is more emphasis on the ease of testing and inspection now, that there was c. 60 years ago.