Two lights - one Two Way Switch

Pacman52 · Post by **Pacman52** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 5:45 pm

Hi Hope someone can help me on this please

I have two lights coming of one switch. One for a light outside the front door and one for a light in the hallway.

There are two cables coming into the switch and have a Red, Blue and Yellow wire (discounting the earth) and there is also a small "bridge" cable.

My problem is my Ex's father has tried to change the switch and took all the wires out and now does not know what goes where for the new swtich and niether do I !! The only thing I think is correct is that the "bridge" is for the Com terminals.

can anyone advise me please??

Many thanks in anticipation

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:38 pm

So the switch is a two gang switch?

So you will have one switch for the hallway and the other switch will operate the light outside!

Can the hall way light be switched on or off from two loacations?

Rich-Ando · Post by **Rich-Ando** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:40 pm

a picture would be of more help m8. it looks like you are saying you have two wires that come into the switch and both have red/yellow & blue wires in them discounting the earth.

if that is true then it doesn't add up as it would mean you have cables in there for 2 two-way lighting circuits and i doubt that your outside light is on a two way switch.

it would make more sense if you said you had one wire coming into the switch that had a red/yellow & blue wire in it.

in either case, we cannot tell by a post or picture which cable they used as the "live feed" to the switch, we can only guess. logically i would have used the red as the live feed to the switch and the blue & yellow wires would be the switch return wires to both of the lights.

all this depends on exactly what you really do have in the switch. i need to know wether it is 1 or two wires.

Pacman52 · Post by **Pacman52** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:53 pm

Thanks for the quick reply ultimatehandyman,

Yes the switch by the front door is a two gang, one switch operates the hall light the other the light outside. I have just phoned the Ex and the hall light also has a switch upstairs.

hope this helps with an answer !!

Thanks again

Pacman52 · Post by **Pacman52** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:59 pm

Hi Rich-Ando thanks for your reply also

not sure if my previous post makes more sense now that i know the hall light can be switched upstairs as well.

I have not seen the switch yet but asked my ex about the wires and she said there two reds, two blues and two yellows and a small bit of red (which i'm assuming from looking at others posts is the "bridging wire"

does this make more sense

Thanks

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 7:23 pm

Pacman52 wrote:Hi Rich-Ando thanks for your reply also

not sure if my previous post makes more sense now that i know the hall light can be switched upstairs as well.

I have not seen the switch yet but asked my ex about the wires and she said there two reds, two blues and two yellows and a small bit of red (which i'm assuming from looking at others posts is the "bridging wire"

does this make more sense

Thanks

Nope that does not make sense either, unless the outside light is also on a two way circuit

I think a picture would be best like Rich says

Rich-Ando · Post by **Rich-Ando** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 7:39 pm

hmm, to be honest it looks like it is one of those ones that somebody couldn't be bothered to install properly to start with.

this will be difficult to actually advise you on, sorry. it could be 1 of a couple of senarios but without being able to test it myself it is pure guesswork telling you what to connect.

it could be any of the following: -

1) somebody couldn't be bothered to use twin cable and just used a piece of 3-core & earth they had left over (which explains why you have two 3-core cables in the switch when only 1 is meant for two way switching)
if that is the case, then 1 of the cores will not want connecting and no bridge would be required.

2) they used one of the 3-core cables as the two way switching to the landing switch for the hall and the other holds the live/return to the hall light + a switched live for the outside light (this would require a bridge but then it means you will find a joint box somewhere under the floor above the switch with a few connections in them)

either way, no matter which you have, it is practically impossible for any of us to explain which to use without you having an understanding of how to test the cables. it is a VERY easy job to rectify the problem but only with testing equiptment or a visual inspection of the switch, and outside light wired connections. (that is usually sufficient to gather the information most of the time)

sparkydude · Post by **sparkydude** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 8:11 pm

What you have probably got is a 3 core between the hall light switch upstairs and the one downstairs, then the other three core is a live , and two switched lives. would need to see pictures to be able to tell exactly what goes where, and a pic of the other hall light switch or diagram of cables and connections to it.

Nick

sparkydude · Post by **sparkydude** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 8:13 pm

Where abouts are you pacman ? maybe one of us is within the vicinity and could help out further if required

Nick