2 Gang Dimmer

OK,

I know this question has been asked a million times, however, I want to make sure I get the correct answer for my switch.

I tried to wire up a metal 2 gang and a 1 gang dimmer yesterday, on all three connections I attached the red to the wavy line (I think this is the common), the black to L1 and earthed it to the metal plate.

This blew the fuse; So we swapped and put the black to the wavy line and the red to L1. This did not blow the fuse but the light on the 1 gang switch came on and stayed on, one of the lights on the 2 gang switch would not work and the other light on the 2 gang did dim and go on and off but flashed when at low light.

I then took the neutral out and attached it to a connector (on the 2 gang switch I attached both blacks to one connector, is this OK?). This did not blow the fuse but again the light on the one gang stayed on, but now none of the lights on the 2 gang worked.

My questions are:
1) Which is the correct way to wire
2) Is the flashing due to using energy saving bulbs
3) Have I broken my switches.

Thanks for any help you can give

You have blown the dimmer up, get a new one , you cant dim most "energy saving" lamps

Thanks for coming back so quickly, I suspected as much.

Do you know which wiring is correct? (obviously the first is wrong!!)

answered your own question

OK,

I have been out, bought new switches and put in normal bulbs. However, exactly the same thing is happening. Neither of the lights on the 2 gang are working and the 1 gang stays on wothout switching off.

I have wired the red to the common, sealed of the black and attached the earth to the metal plate of the switch.


What am I doing wrong??

It's difficult to say how your switches should be connected unless you know exactly what the other ends of each wire in each cable are connected to.

If you know which terminals each wire was connected to on the old switches there is a chance.

You have still got your notes about which wire was connected where on the original switches, haven't you?.....

OK,

My other half took apart and I am now trying to rectify. I think this is how it was wired.

On the 1 gang dimmer - this was originally a dimmer
Red (from the wall) to Comm
Black (from wall) to L1
Red wire from L2 to casing of switch, yellow wire running from where red wire ends to another terminal in the casing, and blue wire running from where yellow wire ends to another term (not sure which either Comm or L1) - I think these were to light up the switch as the switch had a light in it.
At the moment I have wired this with the red to Comm and the black not connected (the fuse blew when the black was connected to L1 or L2).

On the 2 gang dimmer - this was originally a switch connecting to the halogen spot from the kitchen and a light in the living room.
Black to 2 way
Red to Comm
Independant piece of (red) wire running from comm to I think 2 way but may have been 1 way.

Any help you could give me would be much appreciated

u need to find out with an approved voltage tester or multimeter where the live feeds are, then go from there

For a start, its more than likely the dimmers you are using cannot be used two at a time on the same light. You must use a dimmer and a normal switch if this is a 2-way circuit.

Armit said:

Red wire from L2 to casing of switch

Click to expand...