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2 Gang 2 Way With Pictures *help please!*
- Thread starter Trem
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Brilliant, thank you once again.
Sorry for my dumbness, but if I don't ask......
Still haven't got around to doing it today, had crap news regarding mum so other things were dealt with first, may try after tea tonight.
Sorry for my dumbness, but if I don't ask......
Still haven't got around to doing it today, had crap news regarding mum so other things were dealt with first, may try after tea tonight.
Hi, I have followed your instructions to the letter but no joy 
The seperate switch at the other end of the hall works the light fine and the porch light works but turns on when the switch is up (off position), the hall light doesn't work at all from the 2 gang switch.
Problem in my head is that the wire with blue ink on is also the wire marked as porch on my drawing and the first red wire on the left is the one that is used between both the porch and the hall. The one with ink on was 100% the one that was marked as common in the previous terminal.
The seperate switch at the other end of the hall works the light fine and the porch light works but turns on when the switch is up (off position), the hall light doesn't work at all from the 2 gang switch.
Problem in my head is that the wire with blue ink on is also the wire marked as porch on my drawing and the first red wire on the left is the one that is used between both the porch and the hall. The one with ink on was 100% the one that was marked as common in the previous terminal.
Nobody wants to kick a man when he's down, but
a) you aren't in the best frame of mind to be doing this
and
b) external factors ad distracting worries can never make the way you are going about this right.
Electrical installation by trial-and-error guesswork is a very bad idea. There simply is no substitute for actually understanding what you are doing, and how the things you want to fiddle with actually work.
You need a multimeter, or a proper 2-pole voltage indicator and a continuity tester, not a neon screwdriver or magic glowing wand. And you do need to know how to use it, and you do need to know how lighting circuits work so that you know what you are testing for where.
There really is only Plan A or Plan B:
PLAN A:
- Learn how lighting circuits are wired.
- Get a multimeter and learn how to use it.
- Identify which conductors are which at the switches and the light positions.
- Check for voltage present, circuit continuity, switches working etc.
- Connect everything up properly.
- Get an electrician.
- Start trying different things without really knowing what's going on, hoping to get it working by luck, or by blindly following instructions to put-this-wire-in-that-hole without any idea as to why.
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I have a multimeter which also has continuity testing on it.
I am learning how it works by asking on this forum which I thought was a DIY forum (Do It Yourself?), I aren't actually doing anything that anyone else can't attempt, I aren't installing a new circuit etc so why would I get an electrician?
Also why would I give up without trying more than I have to get it right?
If I were asking these questions on the Uber-Sparky-Ninja-Lord forum I could understand the couple of shirty replies I have got, but I aren't, I am asking on a DIY forum, aren't I?
I just don't understand it, I have knowledge of other things and if someone wanted to know I would help instantly without bullet points or looking down my nose while typing a reply.
Want to know how to get rid of the fuser error on a 3600 printer? Ask me, I was the first in the industry to suss that one out, anything about fusers within printers ask me and I will help without hesitation
I am learning how it works by asking on this forum which I thought was a DIY forum (Do It Yourself?), I aren't actually doing anything that anyone else can't attempt, I aren't installing a new circuit etc so why would I get an electrician?
Also why would I give up without trying more than I have to get it right?
If I were asking these questions on the Uber-Sparky-Ninja-Lord forum I could understand the couple of shirty replies I have got, but I aren't, I am asking on a DIY forum, aren't I?
I just don't understand it, I have knowledge of other things and if someone wanted to know I would help instantly without bullet points or looking down my nose while typing a reply.
Want to know how to get rid of the fuser error on a 3600 printer? Ask me, I was the first in the industry to suss that one out, anything about fusers within printers ask me and I will help without hesitation
You need to confirm what cables are doing what?
As you have no neutral or earth at the switch plates, referencing via a two probe voltage indicator is not going to be simply.
Do you have any understanding of how to test for continuity using your multi-meter?
It does sound like the perm live is not as we expected.
There is very little danger of the fuse blowing whilst swapping the cables about and providing you remember to isolate and prove circuit is dead, no chance of an electric shock!
I can only go by your evidence at the moment, without testing, next move would be to swap the blue marked red with the cable in L1 on the gang that operates the porch light.
As you have no neutral or earth at the switch plates, referencing via a two probe voltage indicator is not going to be simply.
Do you have any understanding of how to test for continuity using your multi-meter?
It does sound like the perm live is not as we expected.
There is very little danger of the fuse blowing whilst swapping the cables about and providing you remember to isolate and prove circuit is dead, no chance of an electric shock!
I can only go by your evidence at the moment, without testing, next move would be to swap the blue marked red with the cable in L1 on the gang that operates the porch light.
I know, I know.
I am going there today in a calmer frame of mind and I am going to do it properly and find the permanent live and take it from there. I was trying last night after a bad day in failing light so.....
Bear with me please and I'm sorry.
Edit - I have also ordered a Fluke T110 to help matters a bit more and maybe to stop ****ing people off in here.
I am going there today in a calmer frame of mind and I am going to do it properly and find the permanent live and take it from there. I was trying last night after a bad day in failing light so.....
Bear with me please and I'm sorry.
Edit - I have also ordered a Fluke T110 to help matters a bit more and maybe to stop ****ing people off in here.
Using bullet points is like poking me in my chest from behind a computer screen
Here is the way it is with me, rightly or wrongly I jump in because jumping in means I get it done, if I don't jump in I will make an excuse to not do it and once it is started it will eventually get done. Also it was taking my mind off the other stuff and I liked being at my mums house doing this stuff, it gave me some sort of release. I checked the safety aspect before starting as far as the no earth is concerned because it is my mums house, I didn't check anything beyond that. What made the penny drop was prentice (or maybe you) mentioning the neutral being at the lamp rather than at the switch. So now, I understand. I learnt.
For the record it is done now and for the record the problem was that initially the old terminal where common was marked didn't have the common wire in it. The far left wire is the common.
You see, I did it, not by luck but by figuring it out with help from you guys (prentice). ban-all-sheds I wasn't aiming the "looking down your nose" comment at you nor prenticeboy. Your replies have been constructive but in a shouty type of way and it is always hard to guage when reading something on a forum how something is meant to be taken. But instead of saying "you don't understand how it works" why don't you explain how it works? Or is that because I didn't ask before I started, would that of made the difference to some of the replies? I doubt it.
People shouldn't be scared of asking for help on this forum but it seems that some members want to make it that way.
Yes it is more dangerous than painting etc but like I said it is also something that anyone can legally do so people will and do have a go themselves, more often than not using a neon screwdriver.
I am a big boy and if I feel I want to reply to certain comments on a forum I will, I haven't got many posts but that doesn't give me any less right to fight my corner......does it?
Here is the way it is with me, rightly or wrongly I jump in because jumping in means I get it done, if I don't jump in I will make an excuse to not do it and once it is started it will eventually get done. Also it was taking my mind off the other stuff and I liked being at my mums house doing this stuff, it gave me some sort of release. I checked the safety aspect before starting as far as the no earth is concerned because it is my mums house, I didn't check anything beyond that. What made the penny drop was prentice (or maybe you) mentioning the neutral being at the lamp rather than at the switch. So now, I understand. I learnt.
For the record it is done now and for the record the problem was that initially the old terminal where common was marked didn't have the common wire in it. The far left wire is the common.
You see, I did it, not by luck but by figuring it out with help from you guys (prentice). ban-all-sheds I wasn't aiming the "looking down your nose" comment at you nor prenticeboy. Your replies have been constructive but in a shouty type of way and it is always hard to guage when reading something on a forum how something is meant to be taken. But instead of saying "you don't understand how it works" why don't you explain how it works? Or is that because I didn't ask before I started, would that of made the difference to some of the replies? I doubt it.
People shouldn't be scared of asking for help on this forum but it seems that some members want to make it that way.
Yes it is more dangerous than painting etc but like I said it is also something that anyone can legally do so people will and do have a go themselves, more often than not using a neon screwdriver.
I am a big boy and if I feel I want to reply to certain comments on a forum I will, I haven't got many posts but that doesn't give me any less right to fight my corner......does it?
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