Ceiling light wiring in lounge

[nbr]

Hi,

I have 3 ceiling lights in the lounge of the new house I am moving into.

There is a 2 gang wall switch - 1 gang controls 1 ceiling light and the other gang controls the 2 other lights.

How do I go about working out if the 2 lights controlled by the second gang are wired up together at ceiling level rather than just at the switch level?

Idea would be to make the 2 gang switch into a 3 gang switch so that I can control the 3 lights separately.

Thanks

 

[EFLImpudence]

You cannot "work it out"; you will have to have a look at the wiring.

 

[nbr]

You cannot "work it out"; you will have to have a look at the wiring.

Yes I was going to open up the 2 gang switch. I guess if I see 3 sets of wiring coming down into the switch it means yhe 2 lights in question are separate... I am just trying to understand if I need to open up the ceiling to separate the 2 lights.

 

[ETAF]

i suspect you may have to open the ceiling - and also there maybe a junction box in the ceiling void , may have been used - so its possible there may only be 1 cable to the switch - 3core+earth

 

[Taylortwocities]

Yes I was going to open up the 2 gang switch. I guess if I see 3 sets of wiring coming down into the switch it means yhe 2 lights in question are separate...

not necessarily. I can think of several ways that this could have been wired.

Need pictures of
The wiring at both of the ceiling lights that are linked
And
The wiring behind the switch .

 

[securespark]

If there are two conductors on the switched side of the switch that operates the two ceiling lights together, I would expect one to feed one fitting and the other, the other.

 

[nbr]

not necessarily. I can think of several ways that this could have been wired.

Need pictures of
The wiring at both of the ceiling lights that are linked
And
The wiring behind the switch .

Here are some pics:

- first two show the wiring behind the wall switch
- next four show the wiring at the ceiling light at the centre of the lounge
- last one shows the wiring at the ceiling light on the other side of the lounge

 

[EFLImpudence]

You cannot do what you want without installing another wire between the switches and one of the lights.

 

[nbr]

C

You cannot do what you want without installing another wire between the switches and one of the lights.

Can you please expand wrt to which wire and how we come to that conclusion? Just for me to understand. Thank you

 

[EFLImpudence]

There are only two switched-live wires leaving the two switches and there is an additional cable linking the first and second lights.

Therefore there is nothing independent (at the switch position) that a third switch could use to separately operate the second light.

 

[EFLImpudence]

 

[EFLImpudence]