Landing lighting questiuon

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Landing hall light has 2 switches that operate it (rocket switches) - 1 in hall and other on landing - is the wiring for this the same as normal 3 plate wiring, with just an additional switch wire (L and SL) to the other light switch?
 
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Landing hall light has 2 switches that operate it (rocket switches) - 1 in hall and other on landing
You have a 2 gang switch that operates 'rocket switches' :?:
is the wiring for this the same as normal 3 plate wiring, with just an additional switch wire (L and SL) to the other light switch?
I assume you mean a three gang switch and the answer is, it depends on whether the switches are one way, two way or intermediate.
 
No.
It will depend on what type of wiring system you have. In an older house there may be a big junction box under the floor/in the loft.

If you have loop in/loop out (= 3 plate ) then you'll have a twin and earth to one switch (probably upstairs) and also a 3 core and earth that goes from the upstairs to the downstairs.

There are a number of other ways to wire 2-way lighting.

Have a look in the WIKI in the lighting section. Its all there/
 
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There are many ways to wire up any 2 way lighting circuit, but a typical 3 plate rose would have a 2 core and earth cable down to the landing switch, then a 3 core and earth cable from here to the hall switch.

There are other ways of doing this, but this is probably the most usual method.
 
ok thanks for your help - I'll take a look on wiki!

there's 1 light though not 2 bulbs as in some of the diagrams - 1 light 2 switches


sorry may sound idiotioc - a two way switch is one what switches 2 lights or is it a switch that has a common terminal and a L1 and L2 (or is that just a double pole)?? :oops:
 
sorry may sound idiotioc - a two way switch is one what switches 2 lights or is it a switch that has a common terminal and a L1 and L2 (or is that just a double pole)?? :oops:

Not all idiotic.

One switch is one gang, two switches side by side in the same fitting are two gang.

gang = number of rockers in the fitting

A one way switch has a single open or closed contact

A two way switch has one contact ( Com ) that connects to either L1 or L2 depending on the position of the rocker. If no COM then it is L1 to L2 or L3

A double pole switch is two switches operated by a single rocker.
 
A 2 way switch is one switch with three terminals.

Two of these switches will operate one or more lights from two positions.
e.g.
one switch upstairs, one downstairs
or
one at each end of a corridor.

Where you wish to control a light (or any number of lights) from three or more positions (e.g. a long corridor with many doorways) you fit a 2 way switch at each end of the corridor, and all the switches in between are known as intermediate switches.

Intermediate switches have 4 terminals.

The wiring between each switch tends to be 3 core and earth. The wires used as common at the 2 way switches are simply joined together in a separate connector block at the intermediate switches.

It's all in the wiki.
 
A double pole switch is one switch, but switches two conductors or poles at the same time. A double pole switch would commonly switch both live and neutral at the same time. An example of this is a cooker or immersion switch.

A single pole switch switches only the live. An example is any typical light switch, usually.

A 3 pole switch is commonly used on a modern bathroom timed fan. It will isolate the live, sw live and neutral.

A switch must never isolate the earth connection.
 
one last question please if I may: what exactly is a short circuit - is it where the live and neutral conductors touch due to a fault - and blow the fuse?
 
one last question please if I may: what exactly is a short circuit - is it where the live and neutral conductors touch due to a fault - and blow the fuse?

Yes, that is the most obvious example.

So is touching live to earth.

Touching neutral to earth will go undetected unless an RCD is fitted before it.
 
Thanks again for your herlp - the RCD is a safety device obviously but what else does it provide moreso than say a normal earth wire or a normal fuse/cb tripping under a fault condition? Is it a lot quicker?
 
The RCD compares the current on the live wire with the current on the neutral wire. These should be equal at all times. But if any current leaks from the live wire to ground they will not be equal and the RCD will trip if the difference is more than 35 milliamps.

The leak from live to earth can be through any conductive item that touches the live wire and earth ( or an earthed object ). That includes the human body holding a damaged cable to a hedge trimmer in the garden even though there may be no earth wire in the cable.

An RCD will not operate when there is only an overload on the circuits it feeds, that is the job of the MCB
 

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