Landing lights not working

Philipclifford · Post by **Philipclifford** » Sat Apr 18, 2020 7:24 pm

Hi all my landing lights have stopped working ,I’ve got a three gang switch downstairs one for kitchen and one for living room,but the landing one doesn’t work neither dose the switch on top of landing ,I’ve checked the bulb and for any loose wires but ask seems ok ,has anybody got any advise ? Thank Phil

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Sat Apr 18, 2020 8:09 pm

any electrical or other disturbance like wallpapering or moving about in the attic
have you checked all other lights up stairs are working

ericmark · Post by **ericmark** » Sat Apr 18, 2020 8:17 pm

Four areas where there may be a fault, switch one, switch two, ceiling rose for landing light, and ceiling rose before landing light, although rodents can damage cables, more likely to be one of the places where connections are made.

You may be lucky and unscrew ceiling rose or remove switch and actual see a wire off, but more likely you will need to test with some thing, so what have you got, clearly for any test device to test, you need to poke some probe into terminals, this will involve some danger, so what have you got to test with and are you happy using it. It is all well and good saying a neon screw driver is no good to test with, but if your not happy using a meter even if it is far better then better to tell you were to put neon screwdriver.

Have you got a ceiling rose or is it a flush lamp, and can you take and post pictures, so much easier to say in picture one terminal marked L1 is that live than trying to explain what you may find.

In better times I would say call an electrician but I realise that is a problem at the moment, so say what you have and if you can post pictures and we will try and help.

Philipclifford · Post by **Philipclifford** » Sat Apr 18, 2020 8:33 pm

Thanks guys I will take some pictures tomorrow of the downstairs and upstairs switch wiring and the ceiling rose wiring ,I haven’t got a tester so can only do visual checks at moment ,when I had a look today all the wires seemed ok none were loose

ericmark · Post by **ericmark** » Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:54 am

I have some thing in mind to test switches, but want to see the switches first, as if not what I expect to see it could be dangerous, however without even a neon screwdriver the chances of finding a fault are slim.

Chippo1 · Post by **Chippo1** » Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:56 am

Have the aircraft been diverted ?

ericmark · Post by **ericmark** » Sun Apr 19, 2020 9:42 am

I actually though that myself, I have worked on AGL systems, but I remember on the Falklands runway complete, but to stop anything landing on it, vehicles were parked on it, there was a medical emergency and the Islander aircraft was near so asked if he could take the person into Stanley, they said the would remove the vehicles while he circled, he said don't bother, and landed between them, seems good pilots don't need the landing aides.

But only way I can see to test switch is to remove it, but what I am not sure about is the skill of @Philipclifford or if switch is single pole (normal) or double pole, so waiting for pictures, in other times I would say either get an electrician or buy test kit, but both present problems, so invite any ideas as to how he can rectify the problem.

ericmark · Post by **ericmark** » Sun Apr 19, 2020 9:48 am

: two-way-real.jpg (32.97 KiB) Viewed 2297 times

This it the basic wiring of two way lights, so you should find one switch with 3 wires, and one switch with 5 wires, the latter is the one we are interested with, but waiting for pictures in case it is not wired as expected, this is also a valid method,

: two-way-school-boy-cables.jpg (28.69 KiB) Viewed 2297 times

and what we want is to work out which has been used.

Philipclifford · Post by **Philipclifford** » Sun Apr 19, 2020 4:58 pm

Thank you for your response here are pictures of both the landing switches and the ceiling Rose ,the switch on the left of the three gang switch is the one that operates the landing Thanks

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Sun Apr 19, 2020 6:15 pm

if you look at the blue wire on the 3 way it looks collapsed as iff the core has snapped then stretched so try and see iff the wire will pull out off the sleeve

ericmark · Post by **ericmark** » Mon Apr 20, 2020 4:47 am

The single switch is the master, so if the red with the yellow, and the black with the blue are connected together the lights should work, i.e. turn off power and move the red in with yellow to the black and blue and turn on power, and see if light works if it does then that has proved the cables OK to the single switch.

So if that works, then get a block connector and put the red, yellow and blue wires safely into block connector, and move the red with yellow to where the single red is now, and that switch should work. You loose two way switching, but you get the lights working.

You can ring out cables and test switches, but you say you have no test gear, so if you disconnect the three and earth the red. yellow, blue and with twin and earth move the red to com, then you should have a working light but only one switch. You can get it repaired proper once lock down is lifted.

Note I would not normally give this advice, it is only because I realise getting parts or an electrician will be hard at moment.