Dimmer switch

[randjohn]

Coming out of the wall I have 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 blue, 1 green-yellow and 1 green/yellow on the metal

I have 2 sets of lights; one on opposite sides of the room and want to be able to switch each wall on/off separately

My dimmer switch has two blocks inside with L1 / L2 and 'line-with-arrow-through' on each block and the earthing point

Which wires connect to which part of the blocks?

 

[andy]

the light switch you are tryin 2 change is 2-way. the dimmer is 1 way

 

[randjohn]

the room only has 1 switch to turn on the lights? Is the new one ok for the job?

 

[andy]

you said you have 1 red 1 yellow and 1 blue. there the 3 wires used in a 2 way switch. if it was a 1 way you would have either red and black or red and red

 

[randjohn]

wire were listed correclty
1 red
1 yellow
1 blue
1 green/yellow

..there is only 1 switch in the room

So have I got the wrong dimmer switch or can I use it?

(the previous dimmer switch, which works, has L2 & Com on two blocks and was working until recently when it will only switch the lights on/off with no dimmer capability)

 

[breezer]

it does sound like it is either two way, or maybe 2 gang.

the problem is you are not giving all the information

as it is now what colour wires are connected to which terminals? and is there any thing else?

 

[plugwash]

maybe a second switch has been removed or hidden

try the new dimmer on different pairs of wires (not including the earth) at least one pair will work

 

[Lectrician]

You have "two sets of lights"??

Possibly the thre core is switching as two gang. Need to know where the wires are/were on the old switch. Try red in C and the other two in L1.

As plug says, most switches have no neutral(and yours sounds as though it doesnt), so you can try all combinations in the switch without fear of a fault resulting in a bang and blown fuse.

 

[randjohn]

seems to be working ok - after lengthy reading of the many posts on dimmer switches (you guys must have the patience of a saint!)

Connected red from the wall to the squiggly line
yellow to L1 on one block
Blue to L1 on the other block
Connected a red 'joining-piece-of-wire' between both squiggly line points
connected the earth wires to the earthing screw on the dimmer switch and seems to be working correctly!

Let me know whether I should be updating my will?

One final question - the dimmer switch has a stated range of 60-250W printed on each gang in the dimmer switch
Is this per gang in the dimmer switch or for the whole of the dimmer switch?

 

[buckbyspark]

this is the rating on each dimmer . what type of light fitting are they switching? 250watts is the max on light fitting if tungsten but if they are tungsten halogen (gu10) the rating will be lower

 

[andy]

this is gettin confusin. is the light switch you had got 2 switches on? one for each light?

 

[randjohn]

the original switch had two switches as does the new one...(use of the word 'switch' is a problem here..)

My point all along is that there is only one switch point in the room, which doesnt seem to fit with the wiring..

 

[andy]

the original switch had two switches as does the new one...(use of the word 'switch' is a problem here..)

My point all along is that there is only one switch point in the room, which doesnt seem to fit with the wiring..

what i think has been done is the red feeds both switchs and the blue and yellow are the feed to the lights. was there a wire linkin the 2 parts to the switchs?

 

[randjohn]

yes - there was a red wire linking the two gangs on the original dimmer

 

[Lectrician]

gotcha - yup, it was a 2 gang. What you have wired sounds fine. Check your wattages.