two way switching

[EFLImpudence]

I was thinking the OP had misused the term 'two way'.

Are there three wires to the left hand dimmer?
If so, then my diagram may be incomplete.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I can only see 2 to each gang.

 

[JohnW2]

I was thinking the OP had misused the term 'two way'.

Yes, I think you were probably right. However, as you will understand, I was responding to what appeared to be a general statement from JohnD to the effect that one can't have two-way switching with dimmers.

Kind Regards, John

 

[HawkEye244]

I was thinking the OP had misused the term 'two way'.

Are there three wires to the left hand dimmer?
If so, then my diagram may be incomplete.

4 in total :

 

[EFLImpudence]

And - there is not another switch which also controls the ceiling light.

 

[HawkEye244]

no just this one

 

[EFLImpudence]

That's ok, then. My diagram still applies.

 

[John D v2.0]

Yes, I think you were probably right. However, as you will understand, I was responding to what appeared to be a general statement from JohnD to the effect that one can't have two-way switching with dimmers.

Kind Regards, John

Ok well now I'm going to have to look it up because I can't imagine how it would work!

 

[JohnW2]

Ok well now I'm going to have to look it up because I can't imagine how it would work!

I don't understand why you can't "imagine how it would work" (provided only one of the 2-way switches was a dimmer, that is) ...

... the two-way switching works 'as normal', but the 'output of the switching' feeds the light via a dimmer, rather than directly.

Kind Regards, John

 

[John D v2.0]

Interesting comment - is that intended to be a general statement? If so, why do you think that many dimmers have COM, L1 and L2 (or however labelled) terminals?

Kind Regards, John

Oh so you're right you can have effectively two way switches where one switch has a dimmer built in to the unswitched terminal.
Not exactly what I'd call two way dimmers but the circuit indeed has dimming and two way switching!

 

[John D v2.0]

provided only one of the 2-way switches was a dimmer

Spot on I thought the dimmer was the switch from a user interface point of view

 

[JohnW2]

Spot on I thought the dimmer was the switch from a user interface point of view

It is for one of the 2-way switches. The other is just an ordinary 2-way switch.

If one tried it with 2-way dimmers for both switches (i.e. two dimmers in series when the light was 'on'), I would think the results would be unpredictable, if it worked at all.

Kind Regards, John

 

[John D v2.0]

It is for one of the 2-way switches. The other is just an ordinary 2-way switch.

If one tried it with 2-way dimmers for both switches (i.e. two dimmers in series when the light was 'on'), I would think the results would be unpredictable, if it worked at all.

Kind Regards, John

I was looking for you can do 0-100% from either at any time.

 

[Iggifer]

Can’t you do that with a V-Pro Master/Slave arrangement?

 

[JohnW2]

I was looking for you can do 0-100% from either at any time.

Maybe you were, but I'm afraid that I was unable to read your mind To be serious, I genuinely thought that you were suggesting that 2-way switching and dimming were incompatible.

Having said that, I think one can get master/slave dimmers which will do what you were thinking of.

As for ordinary dimmers, I've never actually tried two dimmers in series, and goodness knows what would happen (maybe I'll try!). One thing seems pretty certain - that if one of them were dimming the light, the other could not 'undim' it (I suppose that would require two dimmers in parallel - but, then, if it worked at all, the 'least dimmed' one would then presumably win!).

Kind Regards, John