3 switch light switch

[undertaker]

can anyone help please i have bought a 3 switched light switch because i want to operate the living room light and upstairs light,but i want to operate a outside light.
i have drilled a hole to the outside light and fitted it, passed the wire through to the switch.I have two existing wires which operate the upstairs and downstairs light but when i removed it i for got where the wires went.
The switch at the back at the top from left to right as you look at it has COM-L1-L2-COM on the bottom from left to right it is L1-L2-COM-L1-L2 my wire colours are red ,black, earth so i have 3reds 3blacks 3 earths.Tried to have ago but can only get room and upstairs light to work ,but when you switch the lights off they come on and when you switch them on they go off can you help please.
Cheers undertaker

 

[plugwash]

ok so lets get some things straight here

you have (had) two way switing of the upstairs light? (i presumje you do since you are switching it from the same place as the downstairs one)

the outside light is newly installed and just has a cable to your switch?

you have two existing cables and one new cable (from your outside light) at the switch position?

assuming all the above

your existing lights were almost certainly wired like this:

now for your outside light we have a problem. we need a neutral core and there isn't one at the switch. So you need to replace the drop from the lounge light to the switch with 3 and earth. the extra core can then be connected to the neutral block in the hall light fitting and linked with chock block in the switch box to the neutral from your new light.

it should ne noted that this lighting setup almost certainly involves borrowed neurals so both lighting cuircuits should be isolated before doing any work (ideally you swhould redo the two way switching to avoid this but thats a totall seperate job)

 

[breezer]

you should connect them to C and L1 (i bet you have c and L2) your outside light cable can not go directly to the switch, as you require a neutral as well as a live

have a look in the for refernce section to see how to add a light

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The switch at the back at the top from left to right as you look at it has COM-L1-L2-COM on the bottom from left to right it is L1-L2-COM-L1-L2

I think this may illustrate one cause of your confusion - the way you've grouped them together in your description. You need to start thinking of the terminals not as what's on the top and what's on the bottom, but what there is as you move across the switch, irrespective of top/bottom, i.e.

[code:1] COM L1 L2 COM

L1 L2 COM L1 L2 [/code:1]

but when you switch the lights off they come on and when you switch them on they go off can you help please.

Now that can't be - if you flick a switch, and the lights come on, you aren't turning them off, you are turning them on, aren't you?

 

[securespark]

Ban

He means when you switch UP they go on and when you switch DOWN they go off....

Get it?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

That's not what he said....

 

[undertaker]

thanks for your replys but i need someone to talk me through how to wire my room light ,upstairs light and porch light into a 3 gang switch(3 buttons)i need to no how to get a neutral to my porch light (this being the new addition) in lamen terms please no tech stuff what colours go where and so on.
cheers undertaker.

 

[plugwash]

this stuff is 3 and earth

it should availible from any diy shed near you you need to replace the existing run from the lounge light to the switch with it.

ok here goes (the long black splodge represents a peice of chock block)

 

[breezer]

to get the neutral to your outside light, you must take a cable to the nearest light, that way you can get L, N & E

to see how see for refernce section, its on page one. treat each light separatley, that way you will find it easier

 

[ban-all-sheds]

thanks for your replys but i need someone to talk me through how to wire my room light ,upstairs light and porch light into a 3 gang switch(3 buttons)i need to no how to get a neutral to my porch light (this being the new addition) in lamen terms please no tech stuff what colours go where and so on.
cheers undertaker.

No - sorry.

You (or rather your bereaved friends and family) may find your username a cruelly ironic choice if you attempt wiring 230V circuits on the basis of nothing more than matching up colours like it was some sort of toddlers game.

Get an electrician.