Double dimmer switch

[halcrowCADmonkey]

Hi,

Just bought a double dimmer switch to replace the one in my kitchen - simple one might think, however the wiring I'm presented with is confusing me.
At present there are 7(!) wires behind the existing double switch -

Neutral (yellow/green) - not connected

3 Black wires - connected to each other in a plastic block

3 red wires
- one is stripped at the end and part way along at a bend, this goes into L1 on both sides
- one has a single red plastic band on it and goes into one of the L2 terminals and
- the other has 2 red plastic bands and goes into the other L2 terminal.

I bought the new double dimmer from BandQ (metal case type) but the wiring diagram is rather unclear. any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Regards

 

[halcrowCADmonkey]

maybe I should elaborate on the problem -
the new switch has the L1 and L2 terminals but also a wiggly line with an arrow through it. The diagram shows all 3 in use in some way or another but it differs from the original setup with the standard double switch.

I assume the plain red is the live feed for both with the other 2 cables representing the feed for each light. I can also assume that the 3 black wires are the return neutrals for the 2 lights linking to the remaining neutral for the circut.

I tried replacing the wires as per the original switch but this did not work and here in lies my problem.

If I get a multimetre and assess which neutral is for which light where should these go and what is the line with the arrow indicating??

thanks again for any help

 

[Steve]

put that red that is stripped twice into both ~ terminals.

the other 2 red wires go to both L1s.

The red stripped twice is the live feed, this is permenant live.
The other 2 reds are the live feeds to the 2 lights.
The blacks are neutrals, yes.

Green and Yellow is EARTH. You should have 3 of these, though the 3 cores may have been wrapped in one plastic sleeve. If you have a metal switch, you need to connect them to the earth terminal on the face plate.

 

[halcrowCADmonkey]

cheers for reply, I'll give it a crack when I get home tonight.