joneh
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 04:48 PM |
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Any Electricians in the house? Home wiring woes.
Hi all,
Any electricians in the house? Need some help with a two way switch that doesn't work right. The downstairs hall light has two switches, but if
the upstairs switch is off, the downstairs switch does nothing.
It's wired with a single 3 core and earth upstairs with L1 Red L2 Blue and L3 Yellow.
Downstairs we have 4 x 2 core and earth cables on a twin dimmer that does and upstairs light and the troublesome hall light.
The downstairs part of the dimmer has cable A wired Black to C and Red to L2. Cable B has Black to C and Red to L2. Cable C has Black to L1 and Red to
L1 of the upstairs switch. Cable D does the upstairs dimmer Black to C and Red to L2.
I guess there's some sort of junction box some where as the light has a single 3 core cable.
With the downstairs switch on and the upstairs switched on:
Upstairs: L1 L2 and L3 are live.
Downstairs: L2 is live
Light on
With the downstairs switch off and the upstairs switched off:
Upstairs: L3 and L1 is live
Downstairs: L2 L1 and C are live
Light off
With the downstairs switch off and the upstairs switched on:
Upstairs: L3 is live
Downstairs: L1 and C are live
Light off
With the downstairs switch on and the upstairs switched off:
Upstairs: L3 and L1 live
Downstairs: L3 and C are live.
Light off.
Does anyone has any tips other than stop dicking around and phone an electrician?
Thanks!
Jon
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craig1410
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 07:15 PM |
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Hi, I'm trying to understand your setup but struggling a bit. Are you saying you have 2 dimmers controlling the same light? Normally you would
only have one 2-way dimmer and a 2-way switch controlling the same light. You can get special dimmers which work a bit differently where one switch is
the real dimmer and you can have remote controllers for it but I don't get the impression that's what you are meaning.
Maybe some photos of your dimmers/switches (front and back ideally) would help, or a sketch of the wiring.
I should mention, I'm not an electrician but I am an electronics engineer and am familiar with home electrics including 2-way switches and might
be able to help. Failing that, perhaps if you can provide more details then someone else might be more likely to jump in.
Cheers,
Craig.
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daniel mason
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 07:40 PM |
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Sounds like he has a 2 way switch at top of stairs, and a 2 gang dimmer downstairs, 1 for hall and 1 for stairs- 1 of which is 2 way
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coozer
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 07:57 PM |
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Home electric is dead easy innit?
Go get a new switch and it will have a wiring diagram you can check against what you got...
1972 V8 Jago
1980 Z750
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daniel mason
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 07:57 PM |
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But it sounds like the 2 way should do the stairs not the hall
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joneh
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 08:13 PM |
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Thanks for the replies so far. Yes it's a two gang two way dimmer downstairs and a two way switch upstairs.
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daniel mason
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 08:18 PM |
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So how is the troublesome hall light related to the stairs 2 way?
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joneh
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 09:04 PM |
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The hall light is the downstairs light that's connected to both switches.
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craig1410
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 09:24 PM |
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Does the upstairs switch have an L4 connection or just L1,2,3? If it has L4 then it’s probably an intermediate switch.
Also, where do the blue and yellow wires go from this switch?
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daniel mason
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 09:26 PM |
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So can you only turn the stairs light on from downstairs?
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daniel mason
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 09:27 PM |
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Blue and yellow will be the straps and will run back to junction box. As whet he's described suggests no neutrals at switches
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craig1410
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 09:40 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by daniel mason
Blue and yellow will be the straps and will run back to junction box. As whet he's described suggests no neutrals at switches
But the only case where the light is on is if L2 upstairs is live. That is the blue wire apparently so it sounds like it must go to the bulb. Upstairs
L3 (yellow) seems to be always live so I guess it goes to the live feed.
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daniel mason
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| posted on 24/6/17 at 10:48 PM |
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That's exactly how a 2 way switch is wired
Live to l1 or l2. Switch live to the other. Then a link between the 2 commons and a pair of straps between the l1 +l2 terminals.
If wired junction box/conduit method then life to 1 common,switched live to the other common and a pair of straps between l1 + l2. Its simple stuff
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craig1410
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| posted on 25/6/17 at 03:36 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by daniel masonIts simple stuff
Over to you then, I can’t get a clear picture of the existing setup. 
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daniel mason
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| posted on 25/6/17 at 09:13 AM |
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I'm at a total loss with the explanation. But pretty sure I could have it sorted in 10 minutes if I was there, and if I could see some pice
I'd be able to explain
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joneh
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| posted on 25/6/17 at 10:30 AM |
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I guess I'll need to start tracing wires and find the junction box...
Thanks for your help so far
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