3 Gang 2 Way Light Switch

[CDunn1]

Please help, what hair I have is almost pulled out! Following the redecoration of the hall, "wouldn't it be nice to replace the switches". I bought the "brass" one from B&Q with the 3 switches and unwired the existing one without looking! Big mistake.
I have 2 ceiling lights and a switch upstairs and one light downstairs. Coming out of the wall I have 3 Red wires and 2 Yellow, I also have 2 Brown flex wires but have tracked them to the outside light and wired to the Comm and 1, this light works. How do I make the three ceiling lights work?
Of course, this is now urgent. Can anyone help please?

 

[holmslaw]

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[Space cat]

First things first, are you sure those two yellow wires aren't bare copper with green/yellow sleeving? If so then they are your earths and they would normally go to a terminal tucked away in the corner of a metal backbox. Since you are fitting a metal faced switch it will have its own earth terminal. I recommend linking the backbox earth to the switch earth with a short length of green/yellow sleeved wire. If the backbox is plastic it might not have an earth terminal, in which case you take the earths directly to the switch.

If - and only if - you get the earthing sorted out you can start on the four red wires. You have just enough wires there for two switches controlling two lights, one of which has another switch elsewhere. One of them is your live feed and this one goes to both switches by way of that extra "C" shaped link wire - but which one is it? I would suggest you get yourself a meter except that meter readings can be unhelpful if you don't know how to use one. (The same goes for neon drivers.)

A reasonably safe approach is to use a light bulb. You will need a bulb in a holder and some choc-block. Start by marking the red wires so that you can identify each one then, with power off (obviously), connect the bulb between any two wires and isolate the others in choc-block. Work your way through all six possible pairs and note the results. What you are looking for is for your test bulb to light dimly and also one of the other lights. Flip the remote switch each time and note the difference.

Unless you have a some very strange wiring, three of the six pairs won't light anything at all. The wire that you aren't including in any of these pairs is the live feed. That's all I've got time for right now. If you're still interested, let me know what results you get and we'll take it from there.