2-way dimmer with retractive switch problem

Retractive switch = schneider-flat-plate-retractive-switch-white-metal-gu1212rwpw_6230
screenshot_1410.jpg


o_O
 
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Electrical work by trial-and-error guessing is not a good idea.

Fair comment, but I was getting massively frustrated that it wasn't working in the way that I'd followed the instructions.......Anyways I'll see what happens with the other retractive switch I've just ordered. If that doesn't work then I'll have to call in a spark.
 
But you didn't.

Maybe you are now, but maybe you damaged the dimmer when you didn't.

The dimmer is fine. It's a 2-gang dimmer and the first gang goes to the front room light. I swapped them over to make sure the dimmer was ok and did I make sure the retractive switch was ok.

It's most likely what I thought.... wrong type of retractive switch. When I first bought the dimmer online it said it needed a retractive switch to accompany it but didint give a model so I just assumed another schneider retractive switch would be fine. It's only after scanning over the installation guide yesterday I spotted the reference to a specific model.
 
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It's most likely what I thought.... wrong type of retractive switch. When I first bought the dimmer online it said it needed a retractive switch to accompany it but didint give a model so I just assumed another schneider retractive switch would be fine. It's only after scanning over the installation guide yesterday I spotted the reference to a specific model.

But a retractive switch is a retractive switch is a retractive switch, effectively a push to make button. Can't see how it will make a difference.
 
But a retractive switch is a retractive switch is a retractive switch, effectively a push to make button. Can't see how it will make a difference.

Ok so if that's the case and the dimmer definitely still works fine and the retractive switch still works fine and I've now wired it up exactly as York suggested.... but yet it still doesn't work? :confused:
 
I haven't studied York's diagram but have you wired it as per the user guide?
 
Without anything to test how can you tell the Live from the Switchlive, with them the wrong way round surely that would not work
 
It has been over 12 hours and 15 other comments since I started to write this but it still applies. However, you have now changed things around to more accord with the installation diagram !

You wrote
I've got it by the entrance to the living room. It's 2-gang so one of the gangs is just brown (live) and blue (neutral) which goes to the first light in the room. This works fine so can be ignored.


While you wrote "brown (live) and blue (neutral) which goes to the first light in the room" I presume that this means you have a "Brown (line) and Blue (Switched Line)" going from and to the light fitting being controlled. (The blue should be marked with a Brown sleeve, to indicate that it is a "Switched Line".)


The second gang on the dimmer has a 3-core and earth cable (brown, black, grey, earth) going directly to a retractive switch right at the back of the dining room near the patio doors.


From that retractive switch I then have the lighting cable (brown and blue) going to the ceiling pendant.


In terms of cabling I have the following:


Dimmer: brown in live, grey in RS, black in neutral.


Retractive switch: brown in COM, black in 1-way, grey in 2-way.... i then have brown in COM and blue in 1-way going off to the pendant.
(The third terminal on the Dimmer Switch is NOT a Neutral – It is the dimmable "Switched Line”.)

The above would not have worked but what the photos showed should work.

These photos showed that you had power fed from the light fitting to the “Retractive switch” position with Brown “Line” and a Blue (which is intended to be a “Switched Line” – FROM THE DIMMER and MUST be extended to it, which you had done - via the Grey to the Switched Line terminal of the dimmer. [Both the Blue and the Grey should be marked with Brown sleeves, to indicate that they are Switched Line conductors.])

The Brown from the light fitting is joined with the Brown to the dimmer at the Common terminal of the Retractive Switch. The Black (control wire) is connected from Terminal 1 of the Reatractive Switch to the RS terminal of the dimmer, which is correct.

The wire to the RS terminal of the Dimmer Switch (Black in your case) is a Control Wire which connects the Line to RS to control the dimmer.

A "Short" press should turn the dimmer Off or On - in its most recent set position. Holding the Retractive Switch should cause the Dimmer to cycle from Dim through Full Brightness and back to Off etc., as long as the switch is held on.


If the dimmer itself is still working, it is hard to see how it could have been made faulty by any previous mis-wiring – which connected the Line to the Dimmer’s Switched Line terminal in your original configuration.

The RS (Control) connection is designed to be connected (briefly) to Line, so it is hard to see how this could have been damaged, unless at some point you connected it to the "Load" which may have placed 230 V across components not designed for such stress!

If connecting Line voltage to RS does not
a. turn the Dimmer On and Off with a short connection and
b. cause the Dimmer to "cycle" when connection is made for a longer time
the Dimmer may have been damaged.
If so, I suggest that you swap it with the other one that you have to check if the RS (Control) input has been damaged.


(The bare Earth conductors should be sleeved with Green/Yellow sleeving.

You are going to use an appropriate connector on the Switched Earth connection to the light fitting – if you still have it – aren’t you?)
 
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Finally got it working!

It was the wrong retractive switch as I suspected.

This is the new one. It bounces back to its home position and the actual switch runs parallel to the plate as opposed to the first one which is more like a normal switch in the off position until you click/hold the bottom down.

IMG_0756.JPG

Fitted the new one like this and now it works perfectly :D

IMG_0771.JPG IMG_0772.JPG

All that's left to do now is sleeve the cables up and earth it properly.

Thanks all
 
This is the new one. It bounces back to its home position and the actual switch runs parallel to the plate as opposed to the first one which is more like a normal switch in the off position until you click/hold the bottom down.
It doesn't matter whether it's a button you press, or a rocker you rock, or a toggle you push, or a knob you turn, all retractive switches do the same thing - they make a connection between two terminals for as long as you keep the button or whatever pressed, and as soon as you let go it breaks the connection.

I can't see how it's possible for there to be a "wrong" retractive switch, other than being normally closed if what you need is normally open, or vice-versa.

Your first switch had COM, L1 and L2 - surely one of those was NO and the other NC, so one of them would have worked.
 

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