2 way switch

[larold]

I have 2 doors entering my bathroom. I have a light switch outside one of the doors which turns all the lights on and off in the bathroom. I want to add a switch outside the other door, so I can use either switch to turn the lights on or off.

I have a new 2 way switch and have connected the red wire to the common, the yellow to L1 and the blue to L2. At the other end (the existing socket) I thought I had to do the same, but it gets complicated as there are already 4 different cables coming into the switch. One is for a extractor fan and I presume the other 2 go to different bedrooms. I have no idea which cable is for what. So the current setup (see pic) is that one red and a yellow are going into L1. There are 3 reds going into common, othing in L2 and 3 blacks and a blue all joined together in a block. I presume I add the yellow from the new switch to L1 and the red into common. What do I do with the blue? Does it go toL2? If so, does anything else go with it? i.e one or some of the other blacks and blue? I have tried various combinations but nothing seems to work.

 

[flameport]

Untitled

• larold
• 14 Mar 2009
• 1

On the old switch, move all the red wires in Common to L2.
Leave L1 as it is.
Don't change anything else.

The wires from the new switch connect to the old switch in the same way - Yellow to L1, Blue to L2, Red to Common. (You are connecting L1 old to L1 new, L2-L2, C-C)
The earth wire connects to the other earth wires in the separate connector block with green/yellow sleeving.

The only problem will be fitting all of those wires into the switch. If they don't fit into the switch terminals, join them using a separate connector block and add a short piece of wire from the connector block to the switch terminal.

 

[larold]

Thanks. So just to make sure I understood. In the old switch, I will end up with 3 red and a blue in L2, one red in common, and 2 yellows and a red in L1?