2 gang light switch...please help!

[novice121]

I have a 2 gang switch in my kitchen. One switch is a dimmer for spot lights, the other is for flourescent lights.

I removed the cover plate and must have unconnected some of the wires in doing so. I am now unsure which ones need to go where to make it all work again.

Both switches have an L1 an L2 and a 8 (?) connection point.

I have 1 x green/yellow wire that is still connected to earth on the casing.

I have 4 x red wires (2 with red sleeves, 2 without) and a short bridging wire.

One red wire (with sleeve) is connected to 8 of a switch; one other red wire (without sleeve) is connected to L2 of same switch; and one end of bridging wire is connected to the same L2.

I therefore have 1 other red wire with sleeve, one other red wire without sleeve, and the other end of bridging wire to put somewhere.

Any help much appreciated !! Thank you.

 

[phredd]

Any chance of some photos ?

 

[novice121]

sorry, my camera is also on the blink.

 

[andy2k7]

The cable with sleeving means the cable goes to the lights. Cables without sleeving means the cable is live (comes from distribution board) Remember a switch breaks the live feed. Other words, without a switch the lights will always be on. So:

Put one of the sleeved cables in L1

Put the second sleeved cable in the second L1

Put one of the unsleeved cable in your 8

Put the second unsleeved cable in the second 8

Put the short bridging between the first and second 8.

L2 connection points are not used!

This will now work. You called the connected point 8 but its infact called 'C' that means common (cable is live, that comes from board)

Let me know how you get on!

 

[ColJack]

no camera on the old mobile phone?

 

[novice121]

Thanks Andy2k7, I followed your instructions and my kitchen is a bright place again!

One question, the spot lights flicker a bit when dimmer is turned fully on. This was the reason for my taking the thing apart in the first place and is not a problem as I simply won't turn fully on....out of curiosity though, any ideas, do I need a new switch at some point?

Thanks again!

 

[TicklyT]

It is usual to de-rate many dimmers for use with halogen lamps because of the high current they draw when starting up, so a 250 watt dimmer will usually be happy with about a 125 watt load, or a 400 watt dimmer with a 200 watt load.
There are some dimmers available that do not need de-rating.

12 volt halogen lighting requires both a dimmer designed to work with transformers, and transformers designed to work with a dimmer to work correctly.

The life expectancy of halogen lamps is reduced if they are dimmed , as the halogen cycle doesn't work unless the light is running at it's full intensity.