Wiring a light switch with a neon light

[VK]

I felt obliged to provide an update for future reference – I’m pretty sure someone else out there will be trying to achieve the same…..

Thanks to sparkwright for providing a meaningful comment on the post and no thanks to a certain someone – mentioning no names

So with a bit of work and some new wiring I got the switch to work the way I wanted (without blowing anything up) – actually it was dead simple. Here’s what you need to do in plain English – you need one main live feed cable (two core + earth) in the switch and one cable that runs between your switch and ceiling rose/bulb holder. The live and neural need to be fed in to the correct terminals on the switch (see below pictures) – the main live feed will go in SUPPLY terminals and the other cable will go into the correct L and N terminals for LOAD.

If you only see one cable in your switch back box then the neon indicator switch will NOT work for you as your Neutrals are looped in the ceiling rose. I hope this will help someone someday.

Untitled

• VK
• 1 Jun 2012
• 1

Untitled

• VK
• 1 Jun 2012
• 1

Ok now that this is done I eagerly wait for the ‘cynical’ to attack me and shred me to bits………

PS: remember we are a community, here to help each other not to show superiority and ignorance.

 

[blackranger]

maybe the person concerned should take more notice of there tag line lol

 

[ban-all-sheds]

And maybe people who come here looking for help, and are given a list of very helpful links like this:

• http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=electrical+circuits+101
  
  
• http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=multimeter+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
  
  

should not criticise the provision of that list, should not dismiss it as unhelpful and should not come here with the attitude that the last thing they want is to actually learn anything.

Frankly, VK, your behaviour beggars belief.

 

[scousespark]

VK. What on earth have you done here?
The original cable in your switch is the permanent live (red) and switched live (black) You don;t have a neutral. You have the wrong type of switch. This has been pointed out by BAS, Sparkwright and pjcomp.

Look at the second drawing in the ligthing sticki and you should see where the line and neutrals go. Where did you get the neutral form and how have you wired the circuit to get the red into the load L and black into load N?

FWIW BAS has given you sound advice here.

 

[sparkwright]

VK. What on earth have you done here?
The original cable in your switch is the permanent live (red) and switched live (black) You don;t have a neutral. You have the wrong type of switch. This has been pointed out by BAS, Sparkwright and pjcomp.

Look at the second drawing in the ligthing sticki and you should see where the line and neutrals go. Where did you get the neutral form and how have you wired the circuit to get the red into the load L and black into load N?

FWIW BAS has given you sound advice here.

He has briefly outlined what he has done.

It would appear he has rerouted the perm live and neutral that went to the light to the switch position.

It would then appear he has run a new harmonised cable from the switch to the light position, and removed the old switch cable.

It would appear VK has done his homework and learnt how to do it himself. Good on him.

 

[scousespark]

I'm curious as to where VK got the live feed and whether any testing was done on this new circuitry. He has the circuit energised whilst the faceplate is hanging off the wall, so I doubt he's learnt any more than he thought he needed.

VK, you could have sved the effort and bought an MK Neon Locator and achieved your required results in about 5 minutes.

 

[sparkwright]

But wouldn't the locater work when the switch is off?

He wants the neon to light when the switch is on, so he tell if the switch has been left on.

 

[scousespark]

It does indeed light up when the switch is off. The purpose is to show where the switch is located, when the room is dark.

In this case, the fact the neon is glowing would indicate that the loft light was off. A bit of reverse logic.

 

[sparkwright]

No.

 

[Lectrician]

Looks like more work involved than is require.

If it was me, I would have swapped out the Twin & Earth cable from the 'rose' to the switch with a Three Core & Earth cable, using one core as a neutral.

It appears the cable is dropped in a stud wall, so easy to do this.

I hope you have joined the earths in the back box?

 

[scousespark]

No.

What's this for?

It's a few years since I saw the neon strips in use and I didn't fit them.

As far as I can remeber it was wired across the switch, using the switched live as dummy neutral.

Is my recollection wrong as I don't believe the strips glowed permanently?

 

[RF Lighting]

Yeah I know them as switch locators. They do work as you describe, but they are a horrible invention leaving the wiring live even when the switch is off

 

[Lectrician]

Yeah I know them as switch locators. They do work as you describe, but they are a horrible invention leaving the wiring live even when the switch is off

I agree 100%!

 

[scousespark]

However, they are an alternative to rewiring and would give VK what he was looking for. I would be interested in what testing VK has carried out.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It wouldn't have done what he wanted:

I want the neon to come on when the light is switched on.

I wanted to replace the existing switch with this neon indicator switch to check if the loft light was left on.