OT - House Wiring, calling all sparks
Turbo Mini Forums

Chaps, ive recently fitted a new dimmer in my attic room, its a 2 way affair with a switch at the bottom of stairs too. After many phones calls and finally (thanks to fastcarl) I think ive rigged it up! Now ill try and explain this best i can, basically..

In the loft i have a feed coming through the floor (twin and earth) which comes from the switch down stairs. This cable goes to my switch then from the switch to the light. Now ive been renovating, I removed the wiring taped it up and have come to rewire a switch back and cant remember how it goes.

Ive wired up Live feed to lamp in common hole, live and neutral from downstairs into l1 and l2, neutral from lamp goes to earth cable. This is the only way i can get the switch to work however it just doesnt seem right wiring to the earth. Ive checked earths around the house to see if there is any current running through them and i get nothing. Is it possible that the person who ran the wire in the 1st place couldnt be bothered running 3 and earth?

ANND Brreaathh.. Also the dimmer is making a slight buzzing noise only quiet, is this normal?

Thanks for reading this far

Mike

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Dimmer buzzing is normal, the rest is far from it lol.

Can you put up a sketch of the wires as they are?

If it is a neutral you are referring to, it should not be connected into the switch at all, just linked through.

Pics would help, I wouldn't play with it any more!!

Lol, ive unwired it and taped it back up.

heres a diagram, ive tried it all sorts of ways and it just wont work any other.

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

BTW id just like to add carl didnt tell me to wire it like this he just tried helping lol

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

The wire to the downstairs switch should a 4 core. It looks like the wire downstairs must be connected to the 3 switch connections with the earth to the common.

That would work, but your downstairs switch is not earthed.

That assumes that the light gets a feed and earth from a ring main and the wire from the light is just the switch wire.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Really need to check what is connected at the other switch, lots of things wrong with that picture!

The switch has loads of wires in the back. I have a double at the top of my stairscase and single at the bottom.

So it single, at the very bottom. Double in the middle. Single at the very top! The middle has tons of wires in it.

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Btw the middle switch also has plenty of earths to it. Non of which become powered when i attach my tester to it.

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

None of the earths should become live Mike.

To be honest 2 way lighting can be a pain in the arse depending on how its been wired, and impossible to diagnose over the net. If I were you I'd get friendly with a local spark, rather than risk getting a belt or setting the house on fire!

Yeah, my thoughts too. Just dont want to shell out for it!

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

I know a spark or two Mike.

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

Do you know any Nice and Friendly do it for pint Sparks?

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Hmm. Possibly a bit more than a pint but not loads. You got more work to do or just a light switch?

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

Just the light switch, everything else im ok with, If it were a normal light switch it wouldnt be an issue! But its turned into a pita!

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Why is the neutral connected to the earth? It has been some time since I did installation work at college, but your diagram suggests some very dodgy wiring.

Have a look at this to see how two way lighting should be wired. http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/forum1/f...itching_177.jpg

Pay the money and get a properly qualified professional in before something goes tragically wrong.
As some old boy said to me many years ago " you cant trust electricity because you cant see it coming at you, boy"
Your insurance company would not be amused if anything happened and found out you had been pissing about in the dark either.

Right lads! I knew the earth job was wrong from the start but because i coudlt find another wire i wad puzzled! So i tore the floor up where the cable comes from! Low and behold, an extra wire that is black! This runs to the back of the switch downstairs! Lights now all working!

Cheers for the input fellas

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

I would also get your fuse/trip box looked at. If you've connected your earth to the neutral then it should trip/blow a fuse!

It did blow a fuse.

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

There are only 2 ways to wire up a 2 way lighting switch, and neither are rocket science.

But until you know 100% what is at each switch....you cant connect it. You MUST know what wires you have at each before you can connect them. And often dodgy people use the wrong wire colours at switches...which complicates matters further. Likelt that "neutral" wire, isnt a neutral at all and the cheapskates didnt use twinred/brown as they should have done.

Depending how dodgy they have got....and how its wired. 2 ways can require 2 or 3 wires between switches. Just depends where the feed/switch wire is.

If at teh same switch....3 wires ( plus earth of course ) are required between them.

If feed and SW are at opposite switches, then only 2 wires are required between them. Different connections can aply for both setups.

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will