TOT: House lighting wiring question
Marky P
you lot anyway. Like most houses, we have a light switch downstairs &
a light switch upstairs that both switch the landing light on & off.
Obviously, you should be able to switch the landing light on from
downstairs & off from upstairs & vice versa. For the last 15 years,
ours doesn't do that. We put some new light switches in & it has
never worked properly since. If the landing light is switched on
downstairs, the upstairs switch doesn't turn it off & vice versa. I'm
looking at the wiring now, & it looks complicated. The upstairs
switch has 2 red wires (twisted together) going to terminal 1, a black
& a blue wire (twisted together) going to terminal 2, & a white wire
going to the common terminal. Dowstairs, the red wire goes to the
common terminal, yellow to terminal 2 & blue to terminal 1. Still
with me? Why so many colours? Any help would be appreciated.
Marky P.
Andy Burns
> Is there a newsgroup to answer questions like this?
Yes, uk.d-i-y, follow-ups set ...
> I'll put it to
> you lot anyway. Like most houses, we have a light switch downstairs &
> a light switch upstairs that both switch the landing light on & off.
> Obviously, you should be able to switch the landing light on from
> downstairs & off from upstairs & vice versa. For the last 15 years,
> ours doesn't do that. We put some new light switches in & it has
> never worked properly since.
I'm afraid if you didn't understand the principles of 2-way light
switching, you shouldn't have replaced the switches in the first place.
> If the landing light is switched on
> downstairs, the upstairs switch doesn't turn it off & vice versa. I'm
> looking at the wiring now, & it looks complicated. The upstairs
> switch has 2 red wires (twisted together) going to terminal 1, a black
> & a blue wire (twisted together) going to terminal 2, & a white wire
> going to the common terminal. Dowstairs, the red wire goes to the
> common terminal, yellow to terminal 2 & blue to terminal 1. Still
> with me? Why so many colours? Any help would be appreciated.
There may be someone here willing to point you in the direction of
websites which explain how 2-way switching works and what colours
(usually) do what. Personally I'd say you ought to call in someone
better qualified to look at it *safely* for you.
Graeme
news:4291d3b3$0$93743$ed26...@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net...
Ditto.
uk.d-i-y, but they'll likely point you in the same direction as Andy has.
Although this may help
http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/lights_and_switches.htm
Tony Bryer
wrote:
> Is there a newsgroup to answer questions like this?
uk.d-i-y
> The upstairs switch
> has 2 red wires (twisted together) going to terminal 1, a black
> & a blue wire (twisted together) going to terminal 2, & a white wire
> going to the common terminal.
White or yellow? If it's white then it may not be so simple.
> Dowstairs, the red wire goes to the
> common terminal, yellow to terminal 2 & blue to terminal 1. Still
> with me? Why so many colours? Any help would be appreciated.
If it's done in the preferred way the red and black pair upstairs are
the switched wires and go to L1 and L2. The three core cable links the
two switches and each terminal upstairs is linked to the corresponding
one downstairs: downstairs swap them over to match what is upstairs
(turn the power off first off course) - i.e. red to L1, blue to L2,
yellow to common. The circuit looks like this if done right:
L _ ____ SL
| C |
| o |
|/ | |
L1 o | o L2
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| o |
|/ C |
L1 o o L2
--
Tony Bryer
Dave Walker
The best one I ever saw was where the upstairs switch turned the two
stairwell lights on/off, but the downstairs switch has managed to place them
in series, so that it became a bright / dim switch!
Tony
"Marky P" <bromham_ho...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:iij391ptisjdgo9j7...@4ax.com...
http://www.electrical-online.com/howtoarticles/3-wayswitches.htx
That should do the trick, I used it a few years ago to do exactly what you
are wanting to do.
Just ensure you have a 3way switch at both side and follow the diagram
(Figure 1) on the page linked above.
Good luck, its quite straightforward once you have done one....
Tony
Marky P
wrote:
Thanks for that. I found the diy doctor web site, they had a diagram
& I followed that. I took the fuses out first. The white wire was
the yellow wire, if you know what I mean. Works perfectly now!
Cheers,
Marky P.
Marky P
Thanks for the link, but I've sorted it now. Got a diagram from diy
doctor web site. Can't believe it's been like this for 15 years & no
one thought (even me) of trying to fix it!
Marky P.
Marky P
>
>I'm afraid if you didn't understand the principles of 2-way light
>switching, you shouldn't have replaced the switches in the first place.
>
They were just replaced for gold ones, instead of white ones.
Marky P.
Andy Burns
> They were just replaced for gold ones, instead of white ones.
Not being funny, but they weren't replaced properly were they?
Since you've replaced plastic fittings with metal ones, can I ask if
there is an earth conductor (with green or yellow/green sleeving)
which is connected all the way from the lighting circuit to the metal
box, and therefore the screws and faceplate?
Graham
>
> http://www.electrical-online.com/howtoarticles/3-wayswitches.htx
>
> That should do the trick, I used it a few years ago to do exactly what you
> are wanting to do.
> Just ensure you have a 3way switch at both side and follow the diagram
> (Figure 1) on the page linked above.
>
> Good luck, its quite straightforward once you have done one....
>
> Tony
I take it this light is at least in the same room as your digital TV kit ;)
I don't know if this is a difference in culture, but here in the UK we call
them 2 way switches.
Andy Burns
> I don't know if this is a difference in culture, but here in the UK we call
> them 2 way switches.
Yes you've spotted it, in america they call 3-way what we call 2-way.
anonguy
Is the switch fitted 15 years ago a 2 way switch?
Why are the wires twisted together?
I rewired my house 20 years ago and the local electrical shop advise me
to use 3 phase wire rather than try pulling 3 runs of twin & earth
through the conduit (i.e. for double switch) hence the extra colours.
Technically the other colurs I was told signify LIVE
Get an electrician in if in doubt.
Zach
I had friend ask me to look at his hall/landing lights, in that they didn't
work correctly
I thought no problem I'll just bus the wires out and connect them properly.
Untill I discovered it had three switches (three storey town house) and each
switch could operate the three lights.
The middle switch I discovered had to be a dual gang change over type. Looks
like a single switch from the front but two switches at the back. This had
been put at the top of the house not the middle, so I assumed it was a
wiring fault and spent hour trying to figure out why it didn't work.
They also had used some 3 phase and two lots of single phase wires to make
it even more complicated.
I wish I had of said "nop you need an electrician" I don't have certificate
P.
Live and learn.
Marky P
Yes, there is. I didn't install them, BTW, think my brother did.
That's a thought! No wonder they were wired wrong :-) He never
switches the electricity off when doing electrical work. He's had a
few jolts now & then.
Marky P.
Marky P
wrote:
The original switch must've been a two way, as it worked back then,
but it was also wired properly back then :-).
I was also confused by the extra colours, until I saw the diy doctor
web site, which explained it all.
Marky P.
Marky P
You can see it from the sofa (where the digital TV kit is) if the
doors open :-)
Marky P
Martin Angove
"Graeme" <gra...@hotmail.com> wrote:
As someone who has frequented both groups, ditto.
Sounds like the original installation was decidedly dodgy to me; white
wire isn't normally used in UK domestic installations for a start.
There are two "normal" ways to wire 2-way switches and one does need a
three-core-and-earth wire going between the switches. This wire is
commonly red-yellow-blue, though very new cable should be
brown-black-grey (new colours introduced last year).
You won't be able to tell how it is, or is supposed to be, wired up
simply by looking behind the switches; you will also need to look in the
ceiling rose of the light and, if there are any, in any junction boxes
en-route.
If you're still not 100% sure of what *should* be happening after
reading diydoctor (and it's not the clearest explanation I've ever seen)
then you probably do need to get the advice of someone who knows what
they are doing. A more detailed explanation, perhaps with links to
photographs, may help us here, but it is difficult at such a distance to
be sure.
Hwyl!
M.
--
Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/
Two free issues: http://www.livtech.co.uk/ Living With Technology
... Start slow and taper off.
Andy Burns
> The middle switch I discovered had to be a dual gang change over type. Looks
> like a single switch from the front but two switches at the back. This had
> been put at the top of the house not the middle,
The crossover switch is logically fitted in between the two 2-way
switches at the end of the circuit (in fact you can have as many
crossover switches as you like in between)
Depending on the physical routing of the wires the crossover may not be
on the middle floor, though I can't think of a case where it would be
more convenient to not have it physically in the middle.
> They also had used some 3 phase and two lots of single phase wires to make
> it even more complicated.
I doubt he had 3-phase in the house, what you are describing is just
"triple and earth" cable rather than "twin and earth", in ye olde
fashined colours it was red+blue+yellow.
Yes I know what you mean, but it this "enough knowledge to be dangerous"
attitute to home electrics that has inflicted Part P on us :-(