two way dimmers in the room, want to change them

[stolt]

hi we have a dining room which has two electric dimmer switches in it controlling one light the switches are GET electric dimmers which seem to have burnt out
one of the switches has lots of wires going into it the other dimmer just has three wires, one is a plain red the other is a yellow with a red sleeve on it and the other is a blue with a red sleeve (but thats taped up and not currently in the switch.

Im looking to replace the dimmers in the room. I think i will just get one rotary dimmer and a normal on/off switch.

im looking to find the right switch as its a two way switch but need help selecting the right switches


this is the back of the switch where all the wires are going into
the blue wire with red sleeve is into the sqiggly patten
the two plain red wires are going into the L
and the black wire with red sleeve and yellow wire with red sleeve are going into the RS connector.




and then this is the other switch with just the three wires, this one if you hold the switch will on the light will turn on but only while you hold it.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Im looking to replace the dimmers in the room. I think i will just get one rotary dimmer and a normal on/off switch.

You can't with the wiring you have - there are only 2 conductors linking the two switches, and if you want to use ordinary 2-way switches you need 3 conductors:

//www.diynot.com/wiki/Electrics:Two-way-lighting

With the wiring you have you'll have to replace the switches with another master/slave simmer pair.

 

[stolt]

oh ok thanks, just thinking i only need one switch if im honest, i was thinking if its a easier route i can blank off that other switch (its the one with all the wires in it though) and just just a dimmer on the other switch as thats where you walk into the room.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Yes - you can do that - 2 conductors at that position are all you need for live & switched live.

Before you remove anything spend a bit of time learning how master.slave dimmers are wired, and identify the conductors at the switch you are going to lose so that you join the right ones up. Choc-block to join and to terminate unused conductors will be fine, and then replace that switch with a blanking plate.

Also, and this is very important, possibly life and death important, the new switch to replace the slave dimmer must be a plastic one, as there's no earth there.

Apologies - I didn't notice that at first.

Dunno what idiot put a metal switch in that he couldn't earth, but be thankful you haven't died as a result.

 

[stolt]

Yes - you can do that - 2 conductors at that position are all you need for live & switched live.

Before you remove anything spend a bit of time learning how master.slave dimmers are wired, and identify the conductors at the switch you are going to lose so that you join the right ones up. Choc-block to join and to terminate unused conductors will be fine, and then replace that switch with a blanking plate.

Also, and this is very important, possibly life and death important, the new switch to replace the slave dimmer must be a plastic one, as there's no earth there.

Apologies - I didn't notice that at first.

Dunno what idiot put a metal switch in that he couldn't earth, but be thankful you haven't died as a result.

thanks, yeah i currently have the switch which had lots of wires in connector blocks as it was in the switch.

Ive actually just check the other switch and ive mentioned it wrong there is a thrird wire (blue with red sleeve) but it has tape on there.

we have lived here for 5 years and the lights stopped working about a year ago, trouble is i never bothered up until now as we havent been using the room.

so quick question is if its easier just to replace the one switch with a dimmer and i;ll just blank the other off.

can i just get a standard dimmer switch 1 way?
trouble is i have blue with a red sleeve and a yellow with a red sleeve and a plain red sleeve. and not sure about wiring those up to which connector as they have the red sleeves and with oen way its just L1 and C and not sure where the plain red, blue with red sleeve, and yellow with red sleeve goes.
so for my new one way dimmer,
my plain red wire to (C) terminal and the the two wires with the red sleeves to go to Line out (L1) terminal.

just looking at the back of the box there is a earthing wire in there but theres no wire from the plate to the box weirdly, although the switch is plastic its one of these screwless face plate switches with a plastic plate underneath the metal fascia.

 

[securespark]

Just looked at both switch positions here.

Am I missing something?

There is a 3 core at one end with cpc and a 3 core at the other along with a twin and earth, both with cpc's, so as long as they are connected to earth, there should not be an issue fitting metal switches.

And there are the required number of cores to set up a standard two-way switching system with a dimmer at one end and a plate at the other.

 

[stolt]

heres the switch which had the wires in the electric dimmer that wasnt working so just connected them as they were in the switch.

 

[stolt]

Just looked at both switch positions here.

Am I missing something?

There is a 3 core at one end with cpc and a 3 core at the other along with a twin and earth, both with cpc's, so as long as they are connected to earth, there should not be an issue fitting metal switches.

And there are the required number of cores to set up a standard two-way switching system with a dimmer at one end and a plate at the other.

my plan would be to put a normal switch on the the dimmer switch which had most of the wires and then fit the dimmer to the switch which has the three wires, red, blue red sleeve, and yellow red sleeve.

just unsure of what to buy and connect wire them up.

we have a electrician in three weeks finishing off our bathroom and said he will run a test for a small fee once i put the light in, the only reson is i had to move the ceiling light and hes labour was £150.00 so said if i can move the celing rose over he will test it after installing the spotlights in the bathroom.

 

[ericmark]

From the look of that switch it's not a standard two way switch. It is the type which has master and slave and although both systems use three wires between the switches the way they work is very different.

The centre wire takes digital information from the other controller so there is no option either you use two matching switches like you show master and slave or use two simple two way switches.

Although the switches work in a different way the wiring is the same. In both cases it's like to like.

With standard two way switching is between L1 and L2 assuming one terminal marked com or if marked L1, L2 and L3 then switching is between L2 and L3.

With the special you show switching is the two outer terminals.

Not counting earth wires standard is 5 wires to one switch and three wires to the other.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Just looked at both switch positions here.

Am I missing something?

Yes - you're missing the fact that when I commented on the lack of switch conductors and the lack of a cpc, this was the only photo he had shown us of what was going on at that position:

 

[ban-all-sheds]

From the look of that switch it's not a standard two way switch. It is the type which has master and slave and although both systems use three wires between the switches the way they work is very different.

No, they use 2 wires, which is why the slave only has 2 terminals, and why the blue isn't connected to anything.

The centre wire takes digital information from the other controller so there is no option either you use two matching switches like you show master and slave or use two simple two way switches.

You can sometimes (often? usually?) use a normal retractive switch instead of a matching slave.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Stolt.

Which switch do you want to blank off?

The easiest way will be to keep the switch tag has lots of wires in it. If you are using a standard switch, you only need to connect two wires to that switch. There will be two cables coming to the back box. A 3-core& eart and a 2-core and earth. Use the 2-core cable and just put the red in COM and the black in L1. Insulated the other red,blue and yellow wires at both ends and you are done.

Its more difficult if you want to use the other switch. But not impossible..

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Stolt.

Which switch do you want to blank off?

The easiest way will be to keep the switch tag has lots of wires in it.

The other one?

oh ok thanks, just thinking i only need one switch if im honest, i was thinking if its a easier route i can blank off that other switch (its the one with all the wires in it though) and just just a dimmer on the other switch as thats where you walk into the room.

Although he has expressed desires to do different things, so I don't know which he actually wants.

Its more difficult if you want to use the other switch. But not impossible..

It's hardly difficult to replace the switch with a 3-way piece of choc-block.

In fact he's already done that.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Ahh yes.

So, dear OP.

Leave the choc block connectors as they are and put a blanking plate over that position.

At the other switch you need to connect the red to COM and the yellow with the red sleeve to L1. Simples!

Meerkat

• Taylortwocities
• 11 Dec 2009
• 53

 

[robpeake]

thanks all for the replies.
For me the switches are at either end of the room, the one with all the wires isnt really used or needed (it was once a kitchen so perhaps it was used more often then)

so if its easier and judging for the replies (really easy) i just wrap those choc blocks in tape and blank plate it off and then as Taylortwocities says connect the red to COM and the yellow with the red sleeve to L1 and just put a block on the end of the blue wire with red sleeve.

one thing and this may becauase fo the current switch on there, its a electronic type thing that if you push it the light goes on and then hodl it and it dims the light down. right now i have to push and hold the button and the light stays on so the minute i let go the light switches off. Dont want to buy an expensive dimmer and fry it, so was going to buy a chep plastic on/off switch to make sure it works before connecting the dimmer.