Different Fan Isolator switches

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Hi Everyone:

We have two bathrooms in this house, each with an extractor fan. I've been working on one of the bathrooms and had to disconnect all the electrics to the room, including the extractor fan isolation switch. I noted down where all the wires were originally attached, but some gremlin has hidden my notes. (Probably the same one who hides my keys and wallet sometimes...) Anyway, I have been able to figure out everything but this extractor fan isolation switch.

I thought I could refer to the one that I hadn't touched since both look exactly the same on the face. There is a symbol of a fan and the word "ISOLATOR" moulded onto the face, with a very wide "OFF" (up) and "ON" (down) also on the face. But on the back they are different.

The one that hasn't been touched has "L1," "L2" and "N" on the back across the top and the bottom just like most diagrams I have seen for fan isolation switches. There is 3 core + earth going into both the top set of terminals and the bottom ones. I can't tell which ones are going to the fan.

The isolator switch I am trying to hook up has "COMMON 1WAY 2WAY COMMON" across the top and ""1WAY 2WAY COMMON 1WAY 2WAY" across the bottom. All the "2WAY" positions are blanked off and there are no terminals in those positions. There are also lines across the back which indicate that where the word "COMMON" appears on the top it is associated with the "1WAY 2WAY" below it. Likewise, where "COMMON" appears on the bottom, it is associated with the "1WAY 2WAY" above it.

Can anyone tell me if this is the correct switch to be used for isolating a bathroom extractor fan? And, if it is okay, are the terminals across the top and bottom the same as "L1 L2 N" on the other switch? Also which terminals take the cable from the fan and which ones from the light switch? By the way, power is looped into the light switch and there is 3 core + earth going from there to the fan isolator switch and 3 core + earth going from the isolator switch to the fan.

Cheers and thanks for your help!
 
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Sounds like a three gang switch. Just use top and bottom corresponding terminals. ie com to L1, L1 to com and com to L1 as you would on a normal light switch.If as you say the switch plate is one big one the rating will be ok , as the manufacturer has made it as a fan iso sw
 
Thanks for that Wingcoax!

Are you able to say which set of terminals go to the fan? On the untouched switch it looks like the bottom ones do, but I'm not able to get in there and wiggle cables around to see which one goes where.

Cheers!
 
Ideally you'd have the fan cables connected to the 'L1' terminals and the feed connect to the commons
 
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Thanks Adam_151!

Okay, that makes sense. I'm also thinking I should just go buy another switch. Then I could look for one that is labelled like the one which is currently working (i.e. L1 L2 and N).
 
Thanks Adam_151!

Okay, that makes sense. I'm also thinking I should just go buy another switch. Then I could look for one that is labelled like the one which is currently working (i.e. L1 L2 and N).

There really is no need, what you have will be just fine if you connect it as Adam described above.
 
Thanks Matthew. I'll press on with using it. And I need to wire something today instead of spending it all on the internet researching.
 

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