1 gang 2 way dimmer

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i am replacing a light switch with a dimmer. the existing switch has two red two black.the dimmer has three terminals: arrow, L2 L1. i am not sure which terminals to connect the wires to -or whether i have bought the right dimmer. can anyone help ?

shera
 
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Can you switch the light from more than one place, ie is it 2way or just one switch 1 light?
 
L1 is for a 1 way light circuit
L2 is for a 2 way light circuit

Therefore are your lights 1 way or 2 way? If only a 1 way connect red to the comm (Common) then the black to L1. If the light is a 2 way it is slightly more difficult :)
repost if this helps or not..
 
NuttallsSpark said:
L1 is for a 1 way light circuit
L2 is for a 2 way light circuit

Therefore are your lights 1 way or 2 way? If only a 1 way connect red to the comm (Common) then the black to L1. If the light is a 2 way it is slightly more difficult :)
repost if this helps or not..

Shera has 2 reds and 2 blacks so it could be 2 way, 1 way with linked neutrals or 2 gang 1 way.
 
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It could well be. I just though it was a bit early to assume the blacks were switch wires. If they turn out to be neutrals then it's not a good idea tell someone to connect them in either L1 or L2 :eek:
 
Nope. Not suggesting to connect them up to anything blindly.

Need to do some testing and find out which wire does what,,,
 
well if thats the attitude of this post then as Electricians (some of us) we shouldnt be telling anyone anything about electrics?! i give up on this, no one had posted a reply to the first post and as soon as I post one every jumps on me :eek:
 
I wasn't jumping on you and I didn't mean to offend you either. I was merely pointing out that you may have miss read the post as we all do from time to time.
 
No-one is jumping on you!

All I said was that the OP needs to do some investigation before we can advise further.

It would be foolish to say "Oh, yeah, just connect A to B and C to D and you'll be RAR....."
 
Pensdown said:
Can you switch the light from more than one place, ie is it 2way or just one switch 1 light?

just one switch one light

thanks
shera
 
I don't think anyone should (or would) say connect 2 reds to one connector and blacks to another - we haven't established how this switch is wired yet.

You say you have a 1 switch controlling one light - so definetaly needs further info to advise

Can you identify the matching red and black pairs (T&E) coming into the switch? Do you know the connections that were made in the old switch? If so can you draw a diagram. What about the connections at the fitting/s it is controlling? Can you draw a diagram of the connections in the fitting and post it?

Need to make sure that some of those blacks aren't neutrals - were they all connected to the old switch?
 
hi there,

thanks for all the replies

problem solved by electrician.

i would like to thank all those who post info for the benefit of others.

once again many thanks
 

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