Hallway lights not working

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A few months ago i have my hallway double switch replaced with a trebble dimmer switch with a addition of a new cable for a 2nd light in the downstairs hallway.

Ever since tbe upstairs light has been playing up.
Sometimes it doesnt turn from thw upstairs switch and have to come downstairs to turn it on

And sometimes it wont come on from the downstairs switch and have to go upstairs and turn it on

Furthermore, at all times when its on, its buzzes, sometimes flickers constantly and have to switch it on off a few times to sort it....

Ive had the sparky out who installed it originally and hes explanation for the flickering and buzzing was that its quite normal because its a dimmer switch, but i fail to understand how thats right, becuase i have dimmers in other rooms in the house too and they seem to work just fine, maybe a little buzzy on the low setting but certainly dont flicker


And secondly he couldn't work out why its intermittently not switching on.

Please can someone advise?
 
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The spark you used is clueless. You need to find a competent electrician.
 
The intermittent switching sounds like the link wires between the up and down switches may be connected wrong.

The buzzing is likely lamp and dimmer incompatibility or wrong lamp type/wattage
 
Thanks to both,

Thats interesting, and strange at the same time. The guy i used is definatley qualified so not sure how hes got this wrong,

Other than some very basic electric like changing lile for like switches and and fittings i dont know much about electrics, hence with my little knowlege, i would have thought a wrong connection would either turn the light on or not at all, and of course worst case scenario out with a big bang!

I dont understand how on minute it works fine from upstairs and downstairs and all of a sudden starts playing up again
 
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When you say "it works fine from upstairs and downstairs " do you mean the light can be turned on by one switch ,and off by the other, repeatedly ,without issue ? That would be impossible if it was wired incorrectly between the two switches.
 
When you say "it works fine from upstairs and downstairs " do you mean the light can be turned on by one switch ,and off by the other, repeatedly ,without issue ? That would be impossible if it was wired incorrectly between the two switches.

Yes thats correct, its work fine from both switches sometimes and sometimes doesnt
 
I opened the switch upstairs and see 3 red wires connected to the switch, theres a loose black cable and there was another single cable( dont remember the colour)

And there was a few other cables joined together too (dont remember the number or the colour)
 
T

I dont understand how on minute it works fine from upstairs and downstairs and all of a sudden starts playing up again

With Two way theres 4 different ways the switches can be

upstairs up downstairs up
upstairs up downstairs down
upstairs down downstairs up
upstairs down downstairs down

2 of which the lights are off
2 of which the lights are on

Each switch will have at least 3 wires in and no wrong combination will cause a bang, but a wrong combination can cause lights to not switch on or off till the other switch is switched over, this is most common fault when one switch is connected wrong
 
I opened the switch upstairs and see 3 red wires connected to the switch, theres a loose black cable and there was another single cable( dont remember the colour)

And there was a few other cables joined together too (dont remember the number or the colour)

Photos please.

Does it looks as if the loose black cable is deliberately unused, i.e. it is secured in a terminal block or taped up or something, or is it just dangling loose as if it has fallen out of a terminal?
 
Hi ive attached some pictures, of both light switches

Theres actually 2 red wires in upstairs switch and not 3 as previously stated

Thanks I'd really appreciate your help
 

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As has already been said find another electrician, the wiring behind both switches is a mess, how anyone can walk away from a job and leave things like that is beyond me, they clearly aren't capable of tightening the screws on the cables properly either. Those two black cables that have come out are probably the cause of your issues. Get another electrician, preferably via a recommendation, and have him/her check all the work the other electrician did too as I suspect it will be in a similar poor condition.
 
If that is a metal face plate in pics 3 & 4 then you need to turn off that circuit and get a new spark in, it needs an earth from the face place to the back box. If that black wire is live then you are lucky to still be with us.
 
Thats really worrying to say the least and the truth is he did come recommended. If a new cable need to be run to any of the switches thats going to be a even bigger annoyance and a expense i really could have done without especially since ive just had the hallway reskimmed

I despair but most thankful for your help
 
Thats really worrying to say the least and the truth is he did come recommended. If a new cable need to be run to any of the switches thats going to be a even bigger annoyance and a expense i really could have done without especially since ive just had the hallway reskimmed

I despair but most thankful for your help

No new wiring run should be needed the face plate (if metal) just needs a short earth wire attaching between the brass earth terminal and the back box, you appear to have earth at the back box already but the screws on the plate appear to screw in to plastic on the sides of the box so thus you have no path to earth from the face plate. Easily fixed.
 

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