Heres a 3 gang 2way light switch marked out for what rooms the switches go to, the dining room is actually an outside light but its still the same principle. At the mo when the light switch upstairs is turned off it can't be switch by down stairs, which is just silly so heres how i put it right.
Turn the lights on (if possible) then identify the Fuses at the Consumer Unit (the thing with all the fuses with switches on em) TURN THE CORRECT FUSES OFF. Lighting circuits are the lower rated fuses such as 10A. If in doubt turn the big switch off (isolator) just remember you've turned your freezer off too so don't take all day.
Heres the shiney new 3 gang (triple switch) 2 way (each) switch. MK switches and sockets come very highly recommended (see note at the end of this blog)
unwrap the switch and check the switch has a satisfying click, and eat a banana.
If you have a voltmeter put it to the AC setting V~ at around 600 volts. As long as you're near enough it'll work. Put the negative to the earth screw (as long as the earth wires are attached to it.) and try all of the other connections one by one with the positive tester. Turn the switch on and off and the wire that always registers roughly 240v is the permanent live. if you don't have a voltmeter just try all the variations in the holes (not two in the same hole) and you will work it out. DONT FORGET TO TURN THE POWER OFF WHEN CHANGING WIRES AROUND THEN ON AGAIN WHEN THEY ARE SAFELY IN PLACE don't worry nothing will blow up the worst that will happen is the light will stay on or off.
If you have a continuity mains tester you can touch the connections see which lights up.
if you are uncomfortable with working with the power on, get a none contact tester, they are brilliant! I have tried many and find the cheap one pictured above on the right is as good as any at detecting the presence of current. if you do touch the connection with the screw driver by mistake you will not be electrocuted. if you touch it with your flesh however i hope you like spiky hair. |
After locating the permanent live, I put a little red tape on it so I don't forget which one it is. If I had insulation brown tape id have used it instead its more up to date standard.
Make a few Jumpers wires, depending on how many COM holes you have (how many gang switch it is)
So the permanent live plus 'Jumper' wires take the Live through the COM, it doesn't matter what order you put these in as long as they are all fed.
at the bottom you can the COM(mon) holes, the top the L1 and L2. we will be wiring in to the L1's back to the lights. If you get these the wrong way around just keep experimenting, you wont blow anything up so don't stress. However make sure the earth cables are connected to the metal box and you turn the power off between each test (don't forget this, if you do you'll only forget once).
Here is the completed switch, far left L1 is the outside light feed (one wire). Middle is the beginning of the circuit with the permanent live (COM) and switch cable (L1) back to the Hall light down stairs. On the right goes up stairs and back down again (2way) so both the L1 and L2 are used, doesn't matter what way around.
Ok this bit is easy, just shove one cable in the COM and one in the L1.
Waffle: You get the same result if you use the L2 so theres nothing special about L1, it just means the switch will be upside down which is annoying and possibly dangerous if someone in the future doesn't turn the electric off and expects no current to light BANG.
So theres two wires from the previous switch downstairs L1 and L2 to upstairs COM and L1. Because the switch is 2way theres always a live feed so the light can be switch on or off upstairs and downstairs!
Waffle: You get the same result if you use the L2 so theres nothing special about L1, it just means the switch will be upside down which is annoying and possibly dangerous if someone in the future doesn't turn the electric off and expects no current to light BANG.
So theres two wires from the previous switch downstairs L1 and L2 to upstairs COM and L1. Because the switch is 2way theres always a live feed so the light can be switch on or off upstairs and downstairs!
Problems i had with this product
After my love affair with MK products, i finally ran in to an issue. This triple switch's COM screw became stuck and wouldn't move, they rounded off….Gutted. i tried another and it happened again!
So i had to take apart another switch. As you can see its a simple design, just put the rocker switch correctly in place as pictured. Or buy a different switch, however the wiring will be the same on any switch.
Find the screws and bodge it back together, not happy but it works fine now. waste of a switch :-/
By the way these are the screw drivers I use, you won't get a sting from these bad boys, i love them. They sell em on amazon, tool station and many other retailers - shop around for best price but they are well worth the money especially if you plan to do more electrical work like consumer unit installation etc! However the mains tester never worked from new but as I've mentioned i only use the cheap chinese one shown above (£3) as they're very sensitive and none contact. |