[solved]Removing old dimmer switch hasn't gone to plan, advice appreciated.

[soslidshoe1]

Quick background - a while ago I replaced most of the light switches in my flat as they were all various degrees of wonky and worn out, I encountered zero issues, all of them had what I expected to see based on tutorials I'd run through, but I avoided doing the old bedroom switch because it was working fine. Said switch was a metal plate touch-dimmer, the kind where holding your finger on the little nubbin would make the light grow and dim again. I subsequently discovered to my annoyance that it wouldn't handle LEDs even "dimmable" ones as they'd always emit a little bit of light even when "off", but I had a box of incandescents so I didn't stress about it. Yesterday the last incandescent burnt out and I figured, why buy more when I already have the switch I need to fix the problem permanently and just whack an LED bulb in there.

Then I opened up the switch(having first completed the required safety steps; breakers all off, tested with probes to make sure etc) and found this(pretty sure the middle wire was in, it only came out when I was rooting around inside):

https://imgur.com/CkWSShe

Way more wires, with different naming conventions to all the other switches - all regular 2 way switches wired as 1 way using COM and L1, ie what I want to achieve here. And, annoyingly, despite putting the fixture back as I found it including ensuring the plate was properly earthed, my living room light now doesn't work either(my hall, kitchen, and bathroom lights all work fine). Anyone know what steps I need to take to rectify this(other than "call an electrician", if I could afford that I'd have just done it to begin with).

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Most likely that floating red wire should go into Live rather than Slave (unless you have a second touch switch on that circuit?)- the floater is probably the live feed to the living room.
2 approaches here.
If you have a multimeter and a long enough test lead you can verify where that floater ends up
If you have a modern consumer unit (with mcbs etc rather than fuses) connect the floater to the live terminal, power it all up.
PS It is possible you have trashed your touch switch by connecting the floater to the slave terminal.
Your standard switch wiring- the floater and Live red wires into COM, the Load red wire into L1.

 

[soslidshoe1]

Most likely that floating red wire should go into Live rather than Slave (unless you have a second touch switch on that circuit?)- the floater is probably the live feed to the living room.
2 approaches here.
If you have a multimeter and a long enough test lead you can verify where that floater ends up
If you have a modern consumer unit (with mcbs etc rather than fuses) connect the floater to the live terminal, power it all up.
PS It is possible you have trashed your touch switch by connecting the floater to the slave terminal.
Your standard switch wiring- the floater and Live red wires into COM, the Load red wire into L1.

I don't have a multimeter just one of those "oh **** it's live!" warning screwdrivers. An MCB panel is the little toggle switches with ON/OFF that can be tripped and reset repeatedly without needing a fuse replacement? If so I have those on the main panel for the house - I'm not fussed about the dimmer, but if I just follow the standard switch wiring you mention with the new standard on-off plastic switch, it should work or, at least, not blow anything up?

 

[terryplumb]

Have you re fitted the switch in your pic ? If so ,does the light fitting it controls work ok ?
And where did you connect the loose red wire to ? It needs to go into the Live terminal.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

I don't have a multimeter just one of those "oh **** it's live!" warning screwdrivers. An MCB panel is the little toggle switches with ON/OFF that can be tripped and reset repeatedly without needing a fuse replacement? If so I have those on the main panel for the house - I'm not fussed about the dimmer, but if I just follow the standard switch wiring you mention with the new standard on-off plastic switch, it should work or, at least, not blow anything up?

It should work, it shouldn't blow anything up. Mark the three red wires (Sharpie stripes will do) in case anything goes awry.
Those neon screwdrivers are not good enough to prove a circuit is safe to work on. Well worth investing a whole £8 on a cheapie DMM.

 

[soslidshoe1]

It should work, it shouldn't blow anything up. Mark the three red wires (Sharpie stripes will do) in case anything goes awry.
Those neon screwdrivers are not good enough to prove a circuit is safe to work on. Well worth investing a whole £8 on a cheapie DMM.

Aye I thought I did have a multimeter from when I was modding my Ender 3s but I couldn't find it. Anyway I survived, and you were right enough so thanks for that - new switch is in and working fine and my living room light works again as well, no breakers tripped.