double switch problem

[Lynette]

I have a double switch at the bottom of the stairs which switches the landing
and hall lights, also one single switch upstairs for the landing only,and one
single switch by the front door for the hall only. In the back of the double
switch one red and one black wire have come out,there are a total of 3 red
wires, 2 black wires, and 1 green and yellow wire. would anyone be kind enough to tell me which wires go where, on the back of the switch there are 2 connectors for Com. 2 for L1 and 2 for L2 and one on the metal part for earth. Lynette

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It rather depends on what those wires do - they could have come from any of the terminals.

A photo would be useful, and a description of what's in which terminals, as would any info on what's stopped working.

Do you have a multimeter?

You could also look here: //www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:lighting - if you understand how it's supposed to be wired you should be able to work out where to put those wires.

 

[Space cat]

First things first, the green-yellow wire goes in the metal terminal - though you probably know that already - but why is there only one?

The five remaining wires are the minimum required for two switches when each is part of a two-way circuit. Even then, the two switches would have to be at the live end of their circuits and the COMs would be linked together. (Note that this is the old-fashioned way of wiring two-way switches.)

If I'm right so far, I would expect to find a single red wire coming into the box and connected to the linked COM terminals. The remaining wires would be in two flat twin and earth cables with red + black + earth in each - so where is the other earth. These cables go to the remote switches.

Look carefully at the switch terminals and you should see that they are in groups of three consisting of COM, L1 and L2. If you divide the switch down the middle (not literally ) there should be a group of three in each half. The black and red cores from one cable go into L1 and L2 in the same half; likewise for the cores in the other cable.

Before you remove anything, study the connections you have to see if they agree with my description above. Let us know if they don't.