Problem when replacing light switch - help please

[smudger1978]

Hi. I'm hoping someone can help me with a problem I'm having swapping a light switch.

I'm redecorating the house and replacing old switches as I go, using crabtree platinum. I've come to do the one in the hall which will be operating the porch (1-way), hall (1-way) and landing (2-way). The switch is a 3 gang, 2-way (see below).

Switch

• smudger1978
• 29 Mar 2013
• 1

The hall switch (middle terminal block) works fine, but when I connect up the porch to the left hand switch (RH on pic)- Brown to L1 and Blue to L2 (nothing in L3) - the porch light is on when the switch is off and vice versa. I've tried connecting the porch wires to the other switches and when I connect to the middle switch it works correctly but the same problem occurs when I connect them to the right hand (LH on pic) switch.

Has anyone got any idea what's going on and how I can sort it out?

Thanks

 

[EFLImpudence]

Put the blue in L3.

 

[toomuchtodo]

And sleeve the blue with a wee bit of brown sleeve.

 

[smudger1978]

That's worked perfectly. Thanks very much.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

smudger - before you attempt any more electrical work PLEASE spend some time learning about it.

That you had to post here about a switch where the light is on when the switch is "off" shows that you actually don't have a clue what the switch is doing.

You've sorted the problem now by following instructions, but you didn't understand why you were wiring it the way you did, and doing electrical work on the basis of blindly following instructions to put-this-wire-in-that-hole without a genuine understanding is not a good idea.

• http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=electrical+circuits+101
  
  
• http://kevinboone.net/electricity.html
  
  
• http://web.archive.org/web/20080213151445/http://www.kevinboone.com/domesticinstallations.html
  
  
• //www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:books
  
  
• //www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics
  
  

 

[smudger1978]

smudger - before you attempt any more electrical work PLEASE spend some time learning about it.

That you had to post here about a switch where the light is on when the switch is "off" shows that you actually don't have a clue what the switch is doing.

You've sorted the problem now by following instructions, but you didn't understand why you were wiring it the way you did, and doing electrical work on the basis of blindly following instructions to put-this-wire-in-that-hole without a genuine understanding is not a good idea.

Thanks for the advice. I'm very aware of my limitations and am grateful for the links as I'm trying to read as much as I can to improve my understanding.

I had thought that a 'simple' like for like replacement following the wiring diagram provided would be straightforward and within even my limited ability. Apparently not.

 

[bernardgreen]

As these are metal switches the front plate MUST be earthed.

This will require you check and confirm the earth wires are connected to the front plate AND that they are continuous to the Main Earth Terminal ib or by the consumer unit ( fuse box ).

 

[smudger1978]

As these are metal switches the front plate MUST be earthed.

This will require you check and confirm the earth wires are connected to the front plate AND that they are continuous to the Main Earth Terminal ib or by the consumer unit ( fuse box ).

Thanks very much for the reminder.

The three switch wires are all earthed to the back box and I have connected that earth terminal to the earth terminal on the front plate and sleeved the wire with green and yellow sleeving.

 

[Johnmelad]

smudger - before you attempt any more electrical work PLEASE spend some time learning about it.

That you had to post here about a switch where the light is on when the switch is "off" shows that you actually don't have a clue what the switch is doing.

You've sorted the problem now by following instructions, but you didn't understand why you were wiring it the way you did, and doing electrical work on the basis of blindly following instructions to put-this-wire-in-that-hole without a genuine understanding is not a good idea.

• http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=electrical+circuits+101
  
  
• http://kevinboone.net/electricity.html
  
  
• http://web.archive.org/web/20080213151445/http://www.kevinboone.com/domesticinstallations.html
  
  
• //www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:books
  
  
• //www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics
  
  

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Thanks for the advice. I'm very aware of my limitations and am grateful for the links as I'm trying to read as much as I can to improve my understanding.

Yup. Nobody was ever born with electrical knowledge - it always has to be learned.