converting two way switch to one way with dimmer

[MarcoM]

hi i currently have a two way switch system with a dimmer on one side and a normal switch on the other.
the dimmer has three wires going into it and the normal switch has three, a wire goung into common and two going into l2. nothing goes inti l1 at this switch.
now i would like to take out the normal switch and just put a blank there. can anyone suggest what to do with the wiring in order to just keep the dimmer working on its own?

thankd

 

[JohnW2]

hi i currently have a two way switch system with a dimmer on one side and a normal switch on the other. ... the dimmer has three wires going into it and the normal switch has three, a wire goung into common and two going into l2. nothing goes inti l1 at this switch.

Are you sure about that? If so, that's not 'two-way switching' in the usual sense - I would imagine that the 'ordinary switch must over-ride the dimmer (i.e. if the 'ordinary switch' is on, the dimmer can't turn the light off, but the dimmer can turn the light on if the switch is 'off' - is that the case?).

now i would like to take out the normal switch and just put a blank there. can anyone suggest what to do with the wiring in order to just keep the dimmer working on its own?

If it is as I have described, simply put the wires into a piece of connector block in the same manner as they currently are at the switch - i.e. one wire into one terminal of the block and the other two wires (together) into a different terminal.

Kind Regards, John

 

[MarcoM]

hi yiu are correct the switch overrides the dimmer

 

[JohnW2]

hi yiu are correct the switch overrides the dimmer

In that case, you can, if you wish do as I suggested ... leaving the wiring to the switch there, transfer wires to a connector block and put a blank plate over it.

However, that leaves live wires (albeit 'harmlessly') behind the blank plate, which is not really ideal. Better would be to disconnect the cable which goes to the switch 'at the other end' (probably/presumably at the dimmer), but that would requiring identifying which was that cable.

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

However, that leaves live wires (albeit 'harmlessly') behind the blank plate, which is not really ideal. Better would be to disconnect the cable which goes to the switch 'at the other end' (probably/presumably at the dimmer), but that would requiring identifying which was that cable.

How are you thinking this is wired?

I can only envisage a previous conventional two-way system where someone has swapped one switch for a dimmer and sort of got it working.

 

[JohnW2]

How are you thinking this is wired? ... I can only envisage a previous conventional two-way system where someone has swapped one switch for a dimmer and sort of got it working.

Since only two poles of the switch are being used (and given that the OP has confirmed that the functionality is what I suggested), I assume that the switch is simply being used as a single pole one in parallel with the dimmer.

Given that there are two conductors going into one of the terminals of the switch, I would think that your explanation as to how it arose is almost certainly correct (i.e. there was previously conventional 2-way switching, but the dimmer which was used to replace one of the switches did not have 2-way functionality).

However, since it works 'as is' to do as I suggested and 'leave things as they are' (but without the switch) will continue working. However, as I also said, it would be better to also disconnect the cable 'at the other end' (presumably/probably at the dimmer), so that the entire cable was 'dead'.

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

However, as I also said, it would be better to also disconnect the cable 'at the other end' (presumably/probably at the dimmer), so that the entire cable was 'dead'.

That's what made me ask what you had in mind.

There is no 'other end', is there? Supply at one switch and switched live at the other switch.

 

[JohnW2]

That's what made me ask what you had in mind. There is no 'other end', is there? Supply at one switch and switched live at the other switch.

I'm not sure what you're saying - all cables obviously have two ends!

The present arrangement presumably has what was originally the two 'strappers' joined together and connected to one side of (what is currently being used as) a one way switch and the other conductor (originally the 'COM') connected to the other terminal of the switch. At 'the other end' (of that cable) one presumes that the 'lone conductor' is connecting to L and the pair (of previous 'strappers') becoming the S/L (connected to the light (a.k.a the 'output of the dimmer).

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

The present arrangement presumably has what was originally the two 'strappers' joined together and connected to one side of (what is currently being used as) a one way switch and the other conductor (originally the 'COM') connected to the other terminal of the switch.

Yes.

At 'the other end' (of that cable) one presumes that the 'lone conductor' is connecting to L and the pair (of previous 'strappers') becoming the S/L (connected to the light (a.k.a the 'output of the dimmer).

Yes, so how can the cable be made dead? One of the strappers is still required (so both might as well be connected together as they appear to be at the moment).

However, as I also said, it would be better to also disconnect the cable 'at the other end' (presumably/probably at the dimmer), so that the entire cable was 'dead'.

 

[JohnW2]

Yes, so how can the cable be made dead? One of the strappers is still required (so both might as well be connected together as they appear to be at the moment).

IF (as we are both assuming is probably the case) the cable (all three conductors of it) in question goes to the dimmer, then simply disconnect it at the dimmer end - and then (if necessary), depending on exactly how it has been wired, either rearrange connections of ('the other') cables to their terminations as appropriate or add a little link wire between wherever the two ('original') 'strappers' go to.

In fact, depending on what was done when 2-way switch was changed to a dimmer, it's quite possible that those two ('original') 'strappers' are also joined (connected to the same place) at the dimmer end of the cable - in which case disconnection that (being taken out of service) cable would be all that would be required.

In any of those scenarios, the 'no longer required cable' would become dead.

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

IF (as we are both assuming is probably the case) the cable (all three conductors of it) in question goes to the dimmer,, then simply disconnect it at the dimmer end - and then (if necessary), depending on exactly how it has been wired, either rearrange connections of ('the other') cables to their terminations as appropriate or add a little link wire between wherever the two ('original') 'strappers' go to.

the dimmer has three wires going into it and the normal switch has three, a wire goung into common and two going into l2. nothing goes inti l1 at this switch.

 

[MarcoM]

Hi again I am having a problem sorting this out.
I have tried to connect the wires in a connector block in the switch but it trips the RCD.
So I am attaching pics of the layout.
The first pic is the switch I want to blank out, this has to reds going into the common and a red and blue each going into L1 and L2. Now I have connected the two going into the common in a conn block and terminated each of the other two in a separate conn block.

The other pic is the dimmer switch end with one wire into c one into L1 and other into L2.

 

[EFLImpudence]

That's completely different than what you first said.

and the normal switch has three, a wire goung into common and two going into l2. nothing goes inti l1 at this switch.

 

[JohnW2]

the dimmer has three wires going into it and the normal switch has three, a wire goung into common and two going into l2. nothing goes inti l1 at this switch.

I don't understand what point you were trying to make. Given that (in that quote from the OP) L1 of the switch is unused, then all that is happening at that switch is that two of the conductors are joined and, if the switch is 'on', the third conductor is also connected to those other two. IF (as is what we assumed) that cable came from the dimmer, then that 'functionality' at the switch could be duplicated at the dimmer end, and the cable then simply disconnected.

However, the goalposts now seem to have been completely moved by the OP's most recent post and photos (which are very different from the original OP, as quoted by you), so I withdraw any assumptions (and conclusions/suggestions based on those assumptions) about where the cable(s) in question actually go/goes. Indeed, since there are three red and one blue conductors at the switch, I now don't even know how many cables we are talking about - certainly not the 'one' I had been assuming!

Kind Regards,m John

 

[EFLImpudence]

I don't understand what point you were trying to make. Given that (in that quote from the OP) L1 of the switch is unused, then all that is happening at that switch is that two of the conductors are joined and, if the switch is 'on', the third conductor is also connected to those other two. IF (as is what we assumed) that cable came from the dimmer, then that 'functionality' at the switch could be duplicated at the dimmer end, and the cable then simply disconnected.

Not if the Line (or SL) is at the switch end - as it would be with the conventional two strapper method.