2 Gang Switch and a whole lot of confusion!

I'll start by saying...help i'm desperate!

I'm a complete amateur here and i've inherited a problem I don't fully understand, which is causing me some annoyance.

so, the situation is that I have a light at the top and bottom of the stairs and a double switch at the bottom and on the landing. currently neither is connected to anything. I'll stress at this point that I didn't disconnect them, but that is neither here nor there. I've managed to identify which wires are which through trial and error with a single switch. However, I still can't get the double point to work.

Currently I have 3 lives, 3 neutrals and 3 earths at each location. i've been trying various combinations of L1, L2 and com till i'm about ready to pull my hair out. Each light works on it's own, but I can not get the 2nd switch portion right.

I'm sure this is a relatively simple prospect with somebody with a decent working knowledge....however, i am not that person! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Apologies if i've not explained the problem clearly, let me know if there is anything further I need to add.

Are you sure you have 3 neutrals? Or are these black switch wires?
You need to identify where these wires go to, I'd suspect at least one pair of twin and earth will run between the two light switches, hopefully you'll have two. Are all the lights in the house on the same fuse or are they spread out over two or three fuses?

Spark123 said:

Are you sure you have 3 neutrals? Or are these black switch wires?
You need to identify where these wires go to, I'd suspect at least one pair of twin and earth will run between the two light switches, hopefully you'll have two. Are all the lights in the house on the same fuse or are they spread out over two or three fuses?

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i've got an upstairs and downstairs fuse...but both these lights are on the upstairs fuse. Despite one being at the bottom of the stairs.

as to the neutrals. I have three black sheathed wires, although one of them has a small section of red sheath at the connection point. Bearing in mind what I said about being an amateur, i'm not really sure what you mean by switch wires.

Black with a red sleeve is usually a switch wire, black on its own is either a neutral OR a switch wire where the red sleeve has dropped off or been ommitted.
Instead of buying twin red cable (or twin brown as it is now) a lot of electricians just use normal colour twin and earth, sleeving the ends accordingly.
You need to identify where each of the cables go, and from there identify what each of the cores in the cable does.

Spark123 said:

Black with a red sleeve is usually a switch wire, black on its own is either a neutral OR a switch wire where the red sleeve has dropped off or been ommitted.
Instead of buying twin red cable (or twin brown as it is now) a lot of electricians just use normal colour twin and earth, sleeving the ends accordingly.
You need to identify where each of the cables go, and from there identify what each of the cores in the cable does.

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ok, will do.

but assuming i've done that and I know exactly which wire is which. What is the correct setup for the switch? In terms of Live to Com, Neutral to L1, switch to L2, etc...

That is the first step, the next step once you know exactly what you have got is to figure out how it should be wired!

Spark123 said:

That is the first step, the next step once you know exactly what you have got is to figure out how it should be wired!

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Feels like this is something of a lost cause. I can't seem to identify a switch wire on the upstairs wiring, they are all just black. At this point i'm just trying random permutations and hoping I get lucky.

All I am saying is the black wires may not be neutrals - they may be switch wires i.e. when a switch is closed the black wire may be live @ 240v. If you can ID where each cable goes i.e. does it go to a ceiling rose, between switches etc this will help to give an idea of where each wire inside the cable needs to go.

Spark123 said:

All I am saying is the black wires may not be neutrals - they may be switch wires i.e. when a switch is closed the black wire may be live @ 240v. If you can ID where each cable goes i.e. does it go to a ceiling rose, between switches etc this will help to give an idea of where each wire inside the cable needs to go.

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well, finally got there by process of elimination and i'm pleased to say that all is now working.

Thanks for the help.