Help with wall switch!!

[Discodavenelson9]

I am trying to wire a Dimmer Switch to a single Light.
I have the live Cable coming out of the wall at the switch position and also the connecting light cable at the switch position going to the light itself which is not live at the moment.
On the Dimmer switch I have Neutral,L2,L1 and Earth what is the correct way of wire this?? I am I using the correct switch
I have tried a couple of ways but it either trips the fuse box or the light remains on at all time regardless of the switch position.
Hope you can help,it seems so easy but I am buggered if I can figure it out!!!

 

[theshogun]

most dimmer switches tend to be 2way with 3 terminals marked C, L1,L2 .
There are some on th market however that require a neutral connection if you have 1 of these i would sujest changing it . The connections would normaly be LIVE=C and Sw Live=L1 or L2 does not matter

 

[felix]

By all means try theshogun's connections but don't be too surprized if they don't work. That's because, as (s)he says, some dimmers require a neutral connection and you don't have one in your switch box. A cowboy might use earth instead. DON'T DO IT. (I say this in case you get bad advice elsewhere.) You'll have to get a different dimmer.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I have the live Cable coming out of the wall at the switch position and also the connecting light cable at the switch position going to the light itself which is not live at the moment. ...I have tried a couple of ways but it either trips the fuse box or the light remains on at all time regardless of the switch position.

When you say live cable and light cable, do you actually mean 2 cables - i.e. 2 reds, 2 blacks & 2 earths?

I can't think what else you could have that would trip a breaker if wrongly connected...

 

[felix]

I've just re-read the original post and , if ban-all-sheds is right, you have a chance. Connect live from one cable to L1 and live from the other to L2. Connect both neutrals together to Neutral and both earths to Earth. If you've already tried this and it trips the breaker, then I suspect you've damaged the dimmer with an earlier, incorrect connection.

Before you condemn the dimmer, remove the two lives and link them with choc block. If the breaker trips now, it's a problem with your wiring. If your light stays on all the time it's a duff dimmer.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Connect both neutrals together to Neutral and both earths to Earth.

Of course, there is always the possiblity that the labelling of the dimmer is dodgy, and it's actually got the usual COM, L1 & L2, and therefore if there are neutrals at the switch, putting them into the dimmer will cause the breaker to trip, and could have stuffed the dimmer....