xAlex said:
Guys. The light switch in the living room has not worked since shortly after i moved in. It is a 3 gang which is supposed to operate 2 ceiling lights and 3 wall lights.
Can you clarify what the 3 switches do? 1 for each of the ceiling lights and 1 for the wall lights?
Did you test the wires to determine that one red wire is live?
In general, each switch is likely to have a live feed (that is always live when the power is on) and a switched live return, that returns power to the lights when the switch is operated.....black cores can be used for this but should be over sleeved in red at the switch (they often aren't).
Neutrals generally don't appear at the switch and SHOULD NEVER BE CONNECTED TO ONE
but will sometimes be run through a switch en route to a light fitting - the block you mention sounds possibly like this. Alternatively, is there another light switch that controls some or all of the same lights? If so you may have a 2 way circuit which may explain your wiring.
A diagram would help a lot, or at least a description of what is at each switch...
The place to start, if its not already too late, is to make a CAREFUL note of exactly which wire goes where, and label them if necessary - if you don't it will mean hours of fun with a multimeter or an expensive trip from an electrician to work out which core is which.
xAlex said:
Could it be that this one live feeds all the lights?
Yes and No - lighting circuits are generally radial, which means the live feed runs from light to light - so if it becomes disconnected at any point, all lights from that point on stop working.
Depending on the style of switch I guess it is possible that it has a single live feed in, and then 3 switched feeds out (though I've not seen one like this before) - again the diagram would be useful, especially what is written on each terminal on the back of the switch.
Come back with more info and I'm sure someone here will get your sorted.
Regards
Gavin
