2 gang light switch

[wemyss]

Please put me out of my misery and tell me how the connections are made on a 2 gang light switch.
Found one in my store cupboard and sat for a couple of hours with my continuity tester and a couple of bits of wire but couldn't get it to work and beginning to think it was faulty.
It has two sets of connections marked common, L1, L2.
It says on it "use L2 for one way SP.
I presume by this it means it can be used as a two way switch but if I was using it by simply supplying it with a T&E to supply a wall light and a ceiling fan (as I intend to) which connections do I use.
wemyss

 

[andy]

it means for a single way switch, put 1 wire in common and one wire in L2

 

[wemyss]

Thanks but what I want is for both switches to work to supply two different appliances.
One live in and two separate switched lives out.
wemyss

 

[breezer]

still as mentioned, live in live out.

you should be clearer on Exactly what you are trying to achieve.

the switch you have is either on or off, it can there for only switch on or off

(it can alternate between the two, but in this case, one or the other will always be on)

 

[wemyss]

Breezer, I did actually state that what I was supplying was a ceiling fan and a wall light from this 2 gang switch. And of course these would be required to work independantly of each other as and when required.
If I understand you rightly you are advising me that this switch won't achieve this?.
regards
wemyss

 

[breezer]

i did read your post, but that is not what you said / implied, all you mentioned was that you wanted to be able to operate both from this switch , not how.

now you have mentioned how you want to operate the fan and light, (indepndantly) you are right you can not use the switch you have

I would also like to ask what gave you the idea you could?

 

[wemyss]

The reason was that an old friend of mine (now retired) who was an electrician all his life told me that it would work as a normal 2 gang switch and in fact explained how to wire it.
Must admit by the time he had finished explaining and got home I had forgotten what he said and assumed by simply experimenting with my continuity tester it would quickly become apparent.
However this wasn't the case and was beginning to think that perhaps it was faulty.
wemyss

 

[breezer]

it is you who is confused, your friend told you about a 2 way, not 2 gang which is what you do require

 

[wemyss]

No I'm not confused...We both knew exactly what we were discussing.

 

[wemyss]

Breezer, Just been searching the web. Go to http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/lights_and_switches.htm
Scroll to the bottom illustration of two gang switches.
It says both switches can be wired one way.
Does this mean independantly?.

 

[breezer]

yes, because it is a 2 gang 2 way switch.

you appear to have one gang two way

 

[ban-all-sheds]

No - he has got a 2-gang, 2-way:

It has two sets of connections marked common, L1, L2.

However - I'd like to focus on something else:

sat for a couple of hours with my continuity tester and a couple of bits of wire but couldn't get it to work and beginning to think it was faulty.

In all that time, and with the aid of the diagrams in the For Reference section, such as this one:

do you mean to say that you never discovered that each COM was connected to an L1 or an L2, depending on the position of the rocker?

Or work out how to use it as a one-way switch?

Either your meter doesn't work, or you are hopelessly under-skilled for this sort of thing.

A couple of hours??? It doesn't seem possible for it to take that long to put one probe into one terminal - any one, and then go poke-poke-poke-poke-poke into the other 5 to see which ones are connected. Given that, and that there are only 4 combinations of rocker positions.....

A couple of hours?