!!!!! HELP !!!!!!! 1 GANG to 2 GANG

[AndrewL]

Hi........

I'm trying to change my living room light switch for a 2 GANG swtich. Some professional advice would be much appericated.....

The 1 GANG switch I currently have turns "two" light on with the one switch. I want to put in a 2 GANG switch so both light work independently.

I've had a look at the swtich and it is as follows:

1 single RED wire coming in through the wall going into the "COMM" port.

1 gray wire coming in through the wall with one "RED" wire going to the "COMM port" and another RED wire going to the "L2 Port". There is also a GREEN wire (I'me presumming that's Earth) which has a sleeve on it and isn't connected to any port.

My question is am I able to change the above swtich into a 2 GANG swtich and if so how can this be done?

Any help would be greatly appericated.......

Andy

[C&GStudent]

Hi Andrew,

This is probably quite a complicated DIY project. You will need to be able to identify all the cores at both lights. They will be interconnected, and you will have to separate them. You will then have to run a second switch cable from the one light which isn't switched to the old switch position.

[breezer]

look in the sticky to see how its done, then you can decide what you want to do next.

it will need some altterations. can you also confrim deny how may wires (not counting eaths) at the swithc, i make it 2, but your description is a little "confusing"

c &g student, its not that simple, it never is.

idealy you are right, but chances are 2nd light is looped off neutral and swithched live, running a cable from this light to the switch wont work, he needs to change the live feed from switched live to live

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[Pens]

You could try the following with the power off

On your new switch put the wire that is currently in L2 into the one mark Com. Add a link from this to the other Com

Split the other two cable that are currently in the the Com and put one in each of the L2's on the new switch.

If the lights don't work put it back as it was and call a sparks.

[Lectrician]

I agree with pensdown - Try that first, that was my first thought when reading your post. The sinle red on it's own is likely to be the sw live to the second light.

To confirm, you could describe what cables you have behind each light fitting.

[AndrewL]

Hi,

Just to confirm:

In one of the lights there seems to be two red wire going into different ports, a black wire going into another and an earth wire also.

In the other light there seems to be wire "madness" there is 3 red wires going into a comm port and another red wire going into another port. There is also 2 black wires going into 2 different ports (I think) and also an earth wire.

I hope that makes it a little more clear......

If it is as described above will the pervious method work?

Thanks for all the help & advice guys......

Andy

[breezer]

so not counting the earths, you have 3 wires?

can you turn this light on from "a" and off from "b"? and vice versa?


anyway, it will need extra cables putting in, since yhe 2nd light is looped off the first, see the sticky posts to see how it is done

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[Lectrician]

Sounds like the second light has all the lives from the T+E's in a seperate terminal, leaving a single live with grey sheath as thw switched live for this light from the switch.

Go with the method described above, if i works, great. If not, call a spark, or ask more advice here

[AndrewL]

Cheers guys will try that over the weekend when I can work during the day so I can turn the electric off..... It would prob be a good idea or I'll get fried.....

Just one other question.... the new switch has one comm port for each button and 2 ports for each button on the other end which says "1 way" and another says "2 way"

I should be connecting the wires which are currently connected to the Comm port to the "1 Way" right....?

Or should the the two wire currently in the comm port go into the "2 way" port?

thanks again guys for the useful tips....

[Pens]

AndrewL wrote:

I should be connecting the wires which are currently connected to the Comm port to the "1 Way" right....?

Thats right, one in each.

We're all guessing that the guy that wired your switch put the live feed in L2 which you're now going to put in the Com and link to the other Com of your new switch. The other two wires could be the switched lives, one to each light but that might not be the case.

But as long as the power's off when you do it you can't come to any harm and if it doesn't work when you restore the power come back with some pics.....then it gets far more complicated

[AndrewL]

Cheers Guys for all the help much apperciated......

will give that a go over the weekend...... if that doesn't work I think it would be a good idea to get in a sparky or just leave it alone.....

Andy