Hi all,
I'm having a few troubles replacing a double switch, and was wondering if anyone could help me. Here's a brief overview...
The double switch controls the lights in the hallway and bathroom. I replaced the old plastic switch with a Volex flatplate by simply copying the wire setup from the old switch to the new one. Everything worked as it should, no problem there.
However, when I tried to screw the new switch into the wall, the metal box wasn't deep enough (it was only 15mm). So, I took it apart, removed the old 15mm box (with some regret as it's ruined part of the newly plastered wall!) and replaced it with a 35mm box (as I'd like to add dimmers at a later stage).
When I turned the power back on, I noticed that the hall light was permanently on. Flicking the light switch for the hall light seemed to do nothing, although the bathroom light was working without any problems. It was wired the same way as before, as I drew a small diagram.
I then proceeded to fiddle around with it and managed to blow my main fuse, which wasn't very clever.
The irony is that after the callout charge it would have just been cheaper to get a sparky round, but I'm adament this light switch won't beat me.
The set up is the following...
- I seem to have a red and black wire going into the common and L1 terminals for the bathroom light, and it's also earthed, so no problem there.
- For the hall light however, I have two brown wires going into the common, and nothing going into L1 or L2 - the two blue wires are just wired into a plastic connector (and there is also an earth attached to the metal box). I tried to wire the neutral into the L1 and that's what caused the loud pop, so I won't try that again.
Apologies for waffling, but this is really getting to me now. I don't understand the logic as to how one switch can have a live and a neutral, yet the other switch has not only different coloured cables, but a seemingly different setup.
If anyone can help me it would be massively appreciated.
Regards,
Shanksy5
I'm having a few troubles replacing a double switch, and was wondering if anyone could help me. Here's a brief overview...
The double switch controls the lights in the hallway and bathroom. I replaced the old plastic switch with a Volex flatplate by simply copying the wire setup from the old switch to the new one. Everything worked as it should, no problem there.
However, when I tried to screw the new switch into the wall, the metal box wasn't deep enough (it was only 15mm). So, I took it apart, removed the old 15mm box (with some regret as it's ruined part of the newly plastered wall!) and replaced it with a 35mm box (as I'd like to add dimmers at a later stage).
When I turned the power back on, I noticed that the hall light was permanently on. Flicking the light switch for the hall light seemed to do nothing, although the bathroom light was working without any problems. It was wired the same way as before, as I drew a small diagram.
I then proceeded to fiddle around with it and managed to blow my main fuse, which wasn't very clever.
The irony is that after the callout charge it would have just been cheaper to get a sparky round, but I'm adament this light switch won't beat me.
The set up is the following...
- I seem to have a red and black wire going into the common and L1 terminals for the bathroom light, and it's also earthed, so no problem there.
- For the hall light however, I have two brown wires going into the common, and nothing going into L1 or L2 - the two blue wires are just wired into a plastic connector (and there is also an earth attached to the metal box). I tried to wire the neutral into the L1 and that's what caused the loud pop, so I won't try that again.
Apologies for waffling, but this is really getting to me now. I don't understand the logic as to how one switch can have a live and a neutral, yet the other switch has not only different coloured cables, but a seemingly different setup.
If anyone can help me it would be massively appreciated.
Regards,
Shanksy5
