Wiring Wall Lights

[steviebye]

i have fitted wall lights into my living room and want to connect it to a new double switch that controls the main light. i have connected the main light to the switch and that works fine but cant seem to get the wall lights working on the other switch. i put in a link between Com and Com to provide power to the other switch but still wont work.

//media.diynot.com/229000_228850_93773_29665012_thumb.jpg

 

[bernardgreen]

Untitled

• steviebye
• 27 Apr 2015
• 1

You will not be able to get the wall light working by connecting only at the switch as there is no Neutral at the switch.

You will need to bring a Neutral to the wall light from one of the ceiling roses.

 

[steviebye]

can i link the neutral from either of the incoming cables at the switch? and if so which port would it go in?

 

[JohnW2]

You will not be able to get the wall light working by connecting only at the switch as there is no Neutral at the switch. ... You will need to bring a Neutral to the wall light from one of the ceiling roses.

Indeed - and I wonder what that yellow conductor is going to the COM terminal of the existing switch - I hope it's not the CPC ('earth') of the (red/black) cable!

Kind Regards, John

 

[steviebye]

the yellow cable is from a 3 core & earth cable. i left the earth cables off the diagram so its easier to read.

 

[JohnW2]

can i link the neutral from either of the incoming cables at the switch? and if so which port would it go in?

No - neither of those cables will have a neutral. The only place you'd find a neutral would be at the existing lights.

Kind Regards, John

 

[bernardgreen]

can i link the neutral from either of the incoming cables at the switch? and if so which port would it go in?

At the switch you have LIVE from the ceiling rose and SWITCHED LIVE back to the ceiling rose.

The Live is probably the red in the cable with red and black.

The Switched Live is probably the black in the cable with red and black.

The yellow should be shown as being in the cable with the red and blue and this cable goes to the other switch controlling the lamp.

The red blue and yellow are known as strappers to the other switch. None of them are Neutral.

 

[JohnW2]

the yellow cable is from a 3 core & earth cable. i left the earth cables off the diagram so its easier to read.

You have a 3C+E with black, red and yellow cores? That would be very unusual? Is the 'black' perhaps actually blue?

... and if you haven't shown earths, is the cable to the new lights also 3C+E (again, brown/blue/yellow would seem very odd) and, if so, where does the yellow go?

Kind Regards, John

 

[securespark]

Methinks the OP has merely transposed the blue and black in the cables in the diagram.

 

[JohnW2]

Methinks the OP has merely transposed the blue and black in the cables in the diagram.

Yes, on reflection, it would then all make sense.

However, none of this alters the fact that there is no neutral available at the switch, so that the OP is not going to be able to wire his new light on the basis only of what is available at the switch.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Taylortwocities]

There may be another switch in that room that also switches the main light on and off…(is there @steviebye?)
That would make the switch correctly wired for two-way switching.

But that does not solve his small issue of finding a neutral for the wall lights...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Indications that the OP is actually listening are not good.

Bernard told him that there was no neutral at the switch, and he immediately came back with "can i link the neutral from either of the incoming cables at the switch?".



Plus, him thinking that there could be one there, and that it could go into a terminal of switches like those, shows that he doesn't understand what's going on, doesn't know how circuits are wired, doesn't know what switches do etc.

Stevie - there s absolutely nothing wrong with not knowing these things, and you cannot be criticised for not knowing. But what is wrong is deciding that even though you don't know you should still go ahead and actually do. This time the outcome of you fiddling with things when you don't know what you are doing is just lights which don't work. Another time the outcome could be a death.

I cannot too strongly urge you to read up on, and come to understand, how it all works before trying to do electrical work. Unlike a bit of DIY bumbling and learning by trial-and-error with painting and decorating for example, messing up with 230V can easily result in much more serious and permanent problems than runs in paint and creased, mismatched wallpaper.

• http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=electrical+circuits+(basics+OR+101)
  
  
• http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=uk+house+wiring+(basics+OR+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:index
  
  

 

[steviebye]

yes, there is another switch that switches the main light. i have transposed the cables! i was quite proud of my computers skills up to that point!!! i am now in the process of taking a neutral from the ceiling rose.

thanks very much for the constructive comments.

cheers