Dimmer switch advice

[razgofast]

I need some advice on the kind of dimmers to install in my hallway to replace standard light switches. I'm a bit of a diy novice and talk of one and two way gangs is leaving my confused.

I have three lights in my hallway, two upstairs and one downstairs. They are each connected to set of 3 x 40w spotlights.

Upstairs I have a single switch controlling both upstairs sets simultaneously.

Downstairs there is a double switch, one controls the upstairs sets simultaneously, the other controls the downstairs set.

There is another double switch by the street door, one switch on this controls the downstairs set whilst the other controls an outdoor porch light.

So I need three dimmers and also some advice on the outdoor light, as this currently has a long life krypton bulb which I have heard cannot be dimmed. Can this be replaced with another type of bulb?

Thanks in advance

 

[ColJack]

don't put dimmers in for hallway lights.. bad idea..

definitely bad idea to dim outside lights..

if you absolutely must, then you'd be better off getting a sparky in since it will undoubtedly be complicated and will frustrate the heck out of you for several days..

get yourself a multimeter before you start, and take photo's of the connections on the back of the switches, and post them here indicating which switch does what..

without at least some information, we have absolutely no way of helping you..

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I need some advice on the kind of dimmers to install in my hallway to replace standard light switches. I'm a bit of a diy novice and talk of one and two way gangs is leaving my confused.

"1-way" and "2-way" (and "3-way", "4-way" etc, ad infinitum) refers to the number of places from which you can switch a light. Almost everyone who's lived in a 2-storey house will be familiar with the 2-way switching for the landing light: one switch downstairs and one switch upstairs, and whether the light is on or off you can turn it off or on from either place.

The number of gangs refers to the number of switch rockers or dimmer knobs on one plate. For single-width switches (i.e. square ones) you can get 1- 2- or 3-gang switches and 1- or 2-gang dimmers. 4- or 6-gang switches, and 3- or 4-gang dimmers will be on double-width plates:

2-way dimming is possible, but for it to work in the way that any sane person would want then ordinary dimmers, even if sold as "2-way" won't do the trick, you need a master/slave product such as the Varlight one, as that will let you dim a light from 1, 2, 3, etc, locations.

Doing wiring should never be a case of following instruction which tell you to "put the brown wire in terminal L1" etc without you having a clue why, and how it works.

Essentially, if you don't understand how lighting circuits are wired, and how n-way switching works, and how dimmers work etc, and aren't able to work out for yourself how to do what you want, then you should not be doing it yourself.

I'm not trying to put you down - nobody is born knowing this stuff, everybody has to learn it, and what you have to do is to decide if you want to learn it or if you want to get an electrician in.

I used to recommend this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0852028172

but it's out of print. You might find a s/h copy, or given what I know generally of their other books, either of these are probably OK, but I've never actually looked at them:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/027644079X

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0007231938

Please - if you want to be safe, learn how it works, and get to the point where you really understand what you're doing and why.

And get a multimeter - if you're going to work on your electrics it is an essential tool.