i need a live

[craigersM]

hi
I'm after a bit of advice from the experts please. switch (2 gang 2 way) in question is as enter front door. it needs to switch hall light and light outside. nothing is connected as yet...

Hall light- is a ceiling rose. at switch i have a switch wire (twin brown) from ceiling rose, and 3 core & E going switch outside kitchen.
will have 1 switch wire into L1 and other to L2, 3-core yellow to L1 blue to L2 red to common, earths to back box. connect same way at other switch at kitchen

the outside light has a neutral and earth from the same ceiling rose (T&E with brown snipped off) and nothing else. my intention was to take a live from the hall side of the switch. but not 100% on how to go about this or if it is possible. any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Lectrician]

Snipped of cores is not good, even if not used.

Is the cable with snipped core (your N) going directly to the light?

You could just take a T+E from the hall switch to the outside light in this case, and justg use one of the cores. Bit of a bodge TBH.

I would prefer to see a new T+E from the pendent to the switch, and then the switch to the outside light.

OR

Change your twin brown switch drop for a 3 Core+E, (L and N down to switch and a sw L back). Then take a T+E to the outside light from the switch.

 

[craigersM]

yes the cable with the snipped core was to take a neutral and earth directly out to the light fitting.
when you say new T & E from the pendent to the switch, do you mean as well as my snipped wire or to replace? if so where does neutral connect to. sorry for my ignorance. your help is much appreciated

 

[securespark]

If the N&E goes from the hall ceiling rose to the outside light, could you replace the twin brown drop to the hall switch with a 3 core, but instead of a neutral to the switch, use the other core as a switch wire for the outside light, joining it up in the hall rose with the snipped-off brown to give a switched live feed to the outside lighting point?

 

[craigersM]

the trouble i theres not much room in the conduit running to the switch. it already contains a 3 core & E (for switch outside kitchen- hall light), twin brown for hall switch and T&E (with brown snipped).
can try and tape on another 3 core and pull twin brown but will be tight. Many thanks

 

[ColJack]

why is the T+E with the brown snipped off in the conduit to the switch?

we need a photo of the switch and ceiling rose, your description is a little confusing..

 

[craigersM]

ok, ceiling rose has loop in, loop out, twin brown switch wire, and flex to light in hall.

i have seperate T&E with the brown snipped leaving a earth (i connected into ceiling rose earth point with all other earths) and a neutral which i have put into the ceiling rose with one of the other neutrals (tight squeeze)

this wire goes from pendent down the conduit and out the back box through the wall to the outside light, providing earth and neutral.

in conduit with this wire is the above mentioned twin brown switch wire for the hall light and a 3core&E going to a switch outside the kitchen. allowing me to switch hall light on and off from both locations.

at switch i have the live from twin brown into L1(with black form 3 core) and SL into L2(with grey from 3 core) and brown from 3 core to common.
this is for hall light

so the outside light has a neutral and earth from ceiling rose and no live.
so i have a single piece of brown T&E connecting L1 on hall side to common on outside light side, and another T&E with neutral and earth snipped off connected at L1(outside light side) going out to light.

both light work but i feel its a bit of a bodge

i thought using single wire is what they used to do, i didnt have any and thought would be ok to use T&E with other cores snipped off

 

[sparkwright]

it is a bodge. cables with wires cut out is messy and unprofessional looking. lelectrician suggesting replacing twin switch wire with 3 core+e and from the existing rose running a twin+e to the new light. much better. at that existing rose you can form a joint. it should be easy to get the new 3 core+e through the switch tube. it can be tied on to the old cable. keep the knot as small as possible and put a little tape round it to stop it snagging.

 

[ColJack]

so why didn't you just use the brown in the T+E to pick up a perm live at the rose as well as the neutral and earth?

 

[craigersM]

ok will do. sorry again for my ignorance but
could you explain what you mean when you say 'form a joint'
and when i bring the neutral down to the switch in one of 3 cores do i take it straight out to the light or into choc bloc or what?
again sorry if i come across as a dangerous incompetant, just want to do it correctly and cant really afford to get a spark in

 

[ColJack]

you don't need 3C+E.. you only need T+E as you just want a perm live, neutral and earth.. no need to over complicate things..

T+E to switch, brown into switch COM.. neutral into block ( or buy DP switch and put through switch.. better idea for outside light.. ), earth into earth..
T+E to new light from switch, brown into L1.. neutral into block ( or as above.. )..

 

[sparkwright]

HEAVILY EDITED POST; forgot to RTFQ properly. see following post.

 

[sparkwright]

the op was concerned about lack of space in the conduit though. if an extra twin and earth was impossible to fit in the conduit, a 3 core and earth could do the same job as two twin and earths. the 3 core and earth cable could provide permanant live for both switches, hall switch live, and a neutral for the outside light. a twin and earth would run from the switch to the outside light (if that's what you want). the existing original 3 core and earth cable would do the hall 2 way switching as before.

alternatively the cable to outside light could come from the ceiling rose if a new switch return is provided via the replacement 3 core and earth or the extra 2 core and earth. an extra terminal block would have to be fitted here providing the switch live for the outside light. this would eliminate having a cable running out the back of the switch which probably wouldn't look very elegant.

is this a house or bungalow?

 

[ColJack]

he already has a T+E in to provide the neutral and earth, with the brown cut off..
simply replace this and then you have all the wires you need...

I'm going on the asumption from the description that the outside light switch is back to back with this one and simply drilled through the wall..
at least that's what I got from ...

this wire goes from pendent down the conduit and out the back box through the wall to the outside light, providing earth and neutral.

and what is RTFQ?

 

[sparkwright]

yes just read it AGAIN you are absolutely right coljack appologies.

when i said earlier i forgot to RTFQ earlier
R Read
T The
F F
Q Question