WIRING A TWO GANG SWITCH

mikeh1 · 29 Jul 2007

i was replacing my two gang switch with a new one, my wife took off the old one so i didnt know which wire went where.i have two leads coming out off the wall one with two wires(red&black)and the second with three wires(red,black n one plain wire sheathed in black)ive tried wiring them up but i cant get both lights to work properly.the connections on the back of the switch are common at the top and 1 way 2way on the bottom for both switches please help

Taylortwocities · 29 Jul 2007

Before we go any further, please can you say what lights the two switches control.
Is one switch for the light in the hall with the second switching on the landing light?
- if this is the case, also advise if there is a second switch (eg) on the landing. Will need to know how the second switch is wired DO NOT TAKE ANY MORE WIRES OFF!!!

mikeh1 · 29 Jul 2007

one switch works the wall lights in my through lounge the other switch works the ceiling light in the other part of my through lounge

Taylortwocities · 29 Jul 2007

And no second switch on either circuit?

edit: also on the old switch, was there a wire connecting the two 'C' terminals together?

mikeh1 · 29 Jul 2007

yes there is no second switch on either light and i think there was a short bit of wire connecting the two commons but this has now been lost since decorating

luminaire · 29 Jul 2007

Normally, on two single switches like these, the live (usually the red wire) would go to the common and the switch (normally the black wire) would go to the L1 for each switch.

In some cases where there only one live feed, this can be achieved by linking the live feed from one common to the next.

Here, it sounds as though somebody has sheathed an earth wire in black sleeving. There is no mention of earth so I hope you will not be replacing the switches with metal ones.

The black wire of the second cable would be redundant, and so why would someone go to the trouble of sleeving an earth? It doesn't make sense.

CallEdsFirst · 30 Jul 2007

Posted this in your other topic on exactly the same subject!

This has to be the most common electrical problem in the world!

"Took the pendant down expecting three wires and there were 23! Couldn't believe it!"

It's difficult for anyone to tell you what IS what, only what should be what.

You also appear to be missing an earth. The red and black on its own should have an earth in there somewhere. Any chance of a picture?

I still don't get the Twin & (no) Earth. Is it conduit singles? 6491x?

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WIRING A TWO GANG SWITCH

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