Another Hall/Landing question

[beebolbod]

I've looked at all the diagrams and read every post on this it seems but i still cant fathom it out.

I have my hall and landing on 2 separate circuits with 3C+E between the two plus the individual T&E from the switch feeds.

Obviosly i want to control both lights from either location and i have 2 dimmers on the landing and 2 dimmers in the hallto do so, each 2 way.

Currently i have the upstairs controllable from downstairs but not vice versa. Upstairs i can only control the upstairs lights.

All the diagrams here show only one set of 2 way terminals with the relevant connections controlling 2 lamps but i just dont understand the diagrams.
On each floor there should be 2 switches to control the lamps but none of the diagrams show this, they only seem to show 2 switches each with L1, L2 and C, whereas i have 2 lots of that on each floor.

I hope i'm making sense with my description 'cos this is doing my head in.

Please help!!

Thanks.

 

[ricicle]

Are you saying the hall and landing lights are each two way, controllable from upstairs and downstairs and you have fitted two gang, two way dimmers at each end?
When requiring two way dimmable switching you only need ONE two way dimmer for each two way switching arrangement.

 

[Steve]

The diagrams show 2-way switching for one location. You simply need to double this up and flip the second one around.

Bear in mind there are many ways to wire 2-way switching circuits, and not all permutations are covered by our diagrams.

And you cannot have 2 dimmers on a single 2-way switching circuit. Think about it. A dimmer chops bits out of the mains sine wave. Picture a sine wave ~ with bits chopped out of it. You cannot feed this into another dimmer, it will not work and both your dimmers will go wonky.

I suggest you take the dimmers you have back to the store, and take a look at here. That link is to a site selling dimmers controllable from 2 locations via a slave. I have some. They work brilliantly. They even came with a wiring diagram.

 

[beebolbod]

The diagrams show 2-way switching for one location. You simply need to double this up and flip the second one around.

So I need 2 sets of 3C+E? I'm not sure what you mean by double up and flip the second one.

I see what you mean about the 2 sets of dimmers. I'll just stick one normal switch upstairs and the dimmer down.

thanks for the help so far. Still not sure though.

 

[Steve]

OK, so gently remove the switch downstairs, taking care to note where any loose cores popped out from.

Now, NOTE WHAT GOES WHERE. If you have a way to mark the cables, do so. Bits of masking tape with the terminal no. on, anything so you remember.

Now, you need to translate the terminal markings on the old switch onto the new switch.

The new switch will have two clearly visible groups of terminals. The old one may not be so clear. If you put up a clear picture of its rear side we will help. Macro focus on your camera will help for close ups. If you can make out the 2 groups of terminals, but the markings differ, post them here and we will help again.

 

[beebolbod]

cool. Dont worry about me dislodging and losing wires. I put them there to start with!

I'll post a photo so you can see what's going on.

Stay tuned..... and thanks.

 

[beebolbod]

This one's the dimmer downstairs (upside down - sorry)....

and this is the one upstairs (a temp 3 gang switch only using one at the mo)....

.

Apologies for clarity, it's just a camera phone...

And i know i'm missing some sleeving on the dimmer. It's not finished yet.

 

[beebolbod]

Any more takers on this one? I know the pictures are a bit shady and the subject done to death but i'm still struggling.

Cheers

 

[beebolbod]

ah, where you've said that the diagrams show one location, this means i have to loop the common to the other 2 way from the 1st?

I'm buying one of those books suggested in the FAQ's now. Have to.

 

[ColJack]

why are you trying to dim hall and landing lights.. surely these are the areas you need good strong lighting to see where you are going?

if you want "mood lighting" then get some table lamps..

if you leave them on low all the time then you are just wasting energy..

you have one dimmer with 2 cables.. this will run only 1 light from 1 point..

the other dimmer has 2 wires going to the 2 way switch.. which is wired as standard 3 plate..

to get the other lights to work 2 way you need a second 3C+E down to the other switch and wire it the same as the 2 way switch

BROWN = COM ( C )
BLACK = L2
GREY = L1

the existing brown and blue on the dimmer needs to then go into L1 and L2 with the other ends of the 3C+E.. like they do on the 2 way switch..

then you can try substituting a 2 gang dimmer for the 2 gang 2 way switch and see what happens..
probably won't work as said above.. they're not generally designed to work with a second dimmer..

 

[beebolbod]

So i do need a 2nd 3C+E (as i said earlier).

I think i took the advice about the second dimmer too.

I wanted low lighting (not that i asked for that kind of advice) as it's outside my kids room and i wanted to dim it from downstairs whilst they were going to sleep.

The long and short of this is that i need 2 sets of 3C+E to run independent 2 way lighting in my hall/landing right?

Thanks everybody.