Help please with light switch wiring, picture included

[jj4091]

Is there 240v on the red wire in terminal L2 switch 1 when it is disconnected?

 

[BigJon]

If the joiner just messed with the outside cables it may be a case of putting the 2 reds in connector and then one black is the neautral and the other the switched live?

 

[GaryMo]

What exactly did the joiner do?

Did he mess with the switch or just remove a light fitting?
Has anybody altered any of the cabling to or from the light switch?

Joiner just messed with outside cables. Never went near switch.

As I said above then, you have a switched live and a permanent live in the same terminal block. Separate them so you have one red in one block and the other in another block.
Either trial connect your fitting to one live then the other until it switches or use a multimeter set to volts to find the switched live.

 

[GaryMo]

Is there 240v on the red wire in terminal L2 switch 1 when it is disconnected?

No need to mess with switch, fault is simple. He needs to separate the two reds at the light fitting and use the switched live.

 

[GaryMo]

If the joiner just messed with the outside cables it may be a case of putting the 2 reds in connector and then one black is the neautral and the other the switched live?

No, if that was the case then fuses would be blowing as both blacks are currently together.

 

[kevindgas]

***********

Though this sort of wiring is not needed these days because PIRs have circuitry that turns the light permenant on when the switch is flicked off and on quickly.

not all of them have that facility some still require a permanent and a switched live

 

[bernardgreen]

If the joiner just messed with the outside cables it may be a case of putting the 2 reds in connector and then one black is the neautral and the other the switched live?

No, if that was the case then fuses would be blowing as both blacks are currently together.

Or the switch ( which no longer goes "click" ) had it's contact pads destroyed before the fuse / MCB opened. Hence the switch is permanently OFF.

 

[GaryMo]

Or the switch ( which no longer goes "click" ) had it's contact pads destroyed before the fuse / MCB opened. Hence the switch is permanently OFF.

I guess it's possible but I've yet to replace a switch after cable damage or incorrect wiring in 20 years of working as an electrician.

 

[UKmedic]

Bernard Green has already said this earlier in the thread and he is right. It appears from the fact there are two cables to the original outside light it formed part of the lighting ring. If what I suspect is so, then you will merely need to determine which of the two black wires is the switch neutral (live when switched on) and which is actual neutral. You will need a test meter for this. If one of the black wires is live when the switch is on switch it off the power to the lights, mark it with red tape and keep it separate from the other neutral.

Leaving the two reds connected together. Connect ONLY the two BLACK wires and the EARTH wires to your outside lamp make sure that the REDS ARE NOT connected to the outside lamp but ensure they are weatherproof.

If you separate the REDS you will find that ONE them will be live and one will be dead but also your other lights won't work i.e, front hall light.

Regards, Chris (UKMedic).

 

[ricicle]

......lighting ring.......switch neutral (live when switched on)

Come back when you know what you are talking about...

 

[GaryMo]

......lighting ring.......switch neutral (live when switched on)

Come back when you know what you are talking about...

First post too

 

[securespark]

I guess it's possible but I've yet to replace a switch after cable damage or incorrect wiring in 20 years of working as an electrician.

Lucky you. I have over my 21 years found a few, but mostly they have been "welded" together so the switch no longer moves!!

 

[jj4091]

Is there 240v on the red wire in terminal L2 switch 1 when it is disconnected?

No need to mess with switch, fault is simple. He needs to separate the two reds at the light fitting and use the switched live.

It must be brilliant to be phsycic

 

[UKmedic]

......lighting ring.......switch neutral (live when switched on)

Come back when you know what you are talking about...

I did not post to **** in anyone's pond but intended to help my fellow man.

Granted, I finished my electrical apprenticeship in 1975 when the building industry was in a slump and went on to study medicine. However, like medicine, trades have a language that Joe public doesn't undertand and thus get confused with neutral wires in switches not being neutral at all and whilst I understand about switched live most people do not.

Any advice given is based upon assumptions gained from two photographs. Like blown or non-blown switches and wired before and after PIRs are all theories. Especially when there is a wire connecting the two switches at the common on switch 1 and L2 on switch 2. However, it does look like it was wired before and after the PIR on an old light and not part on the lighting circuit as I first thought.

Apologies to anyone seriously offended by my twopenny worth.

 

[bernardgreen]

UK medic, do you SJA by any chance ?