1 gang 2 way dimmer

[shera]

i am replacing a light switch with a dimmer. the existing switch has two red two black.the dimmer has three terminals: arrow, L2 L1. i am not sure which terminals to connect the wires to -or whether i have bought the right dimmer. can anyone help ?

shera

 

[Pensdown]

Can you switch the light from more than one place, ie is it 2way or just one switch 1 light?

 

[NuttallsSpark]

L1 is for a 1 way light circuit
L2 is for a 2 way light circuit

Therefore are your lights 1 way or 2 way? If only a 1 way connect red to the comm (Common) then the black to L1. If the light is a 2 way it is slightly more difficult
repost if this helps or not..

 

[Pensdown]

L1 is for a 1 way light circuit
L2 is for a 2 way light circuit

Therefore are your lights 1 way or 2 way? If only a 1 way connect red to the comm (Common) then the black to L1. If the light is a 2 way it is slightly more difficult
repost if this helps or not..

Shera has 2 reds and 2 blacks so it could be 2 way, 1 way with linked neutrals or 2 gang 1 way.

 

[securespark]

Or it could be intermediate......

 

[Pensdown]

It could well be. I just though it was a bit early to assume the blacks were switch wires. If they turn out to be neutrals then it's not a good idea tell someone to connect them in either L1 or L2

 

[securespark]

Nope. Not suggesting to connect them up to anything blindly.

Need to do some testing and find out which wire does what,,,

 

[NuttallsSpark]

well if thats the attitude of this post then as Electricians (some of us) we shouldnt be telling anyone anything about electrics?! i give up on this, no one had posted a reply to the first post and as soon as I post one every jumps on me

 

[Pensdown]

I wasn't jumping on you and I didn't mean to offend you either. I was merely pointing out that you may have miss read the post as we all do from time to time.

 

[securespark]

No-one is jumping on you!

All I said was that the OP needs to do some investigation before we can advise further.

It would be foolish to say "Oh, yeah, just connect A to B and C to D and you'll be RAR....."

 

[shera]

the dimmer is a 1 gang 2 way with 1 switch.

 

[shera]

Can you switch the light from more than one place, ie is it 2way or just one switch 1 light?

just one switch one light

thanks
shera

 

[the_jinj]

I don't think anyone should (or would) say connect 2 reds to one connector and blacks to another - we haven't established how this switch is wired yet.

You say you have a 1 switch controlling one light - so definetaly needs further info to advise

Can you identify the matching red and black pairs (T&E) coming into the switch? Do you know the connections that were made in the old switch? If so can you draw a diagram. What about the connections at the fitting/s it is controlling? Can you draw a diagram of the connections in the fitting and post it?

Need to make sure that some of those blacks aren't neutrals - were they all connected to the old switch?

 

[NuttallsSpark]

Sorry i threw my dummy out of my pram just having a rough day

 

[shera]

hi there,

thanks for all the replies

problem solved by electrician.

i would like to thank all those who post info for the benefit of others.

once again many thanks