Complete Novice trying to install new 2 Gang Light Switch - please help!!!

[Chrisl]

Hi guys,

I am completly stuck, I am replacing my Kitchen Light Switches with new Chrome switches, I thought it would be just a quick straight forward swap, how wrong could i be!!

There are 2 separate lights in the kitchen on a 2 gang switch, indepently controlled by the same switch (2 buttons). After removing the current swicth, its an old tenaby switch and there are 3 conectors on the top and 3 on the bottom and 7 wires + earth.

The new switch as 2 holes/connectors on the bottom (both saying common) and 4 holes on the top (L1/L2/L1/L2) - Obviously very differnt to original switch

I presume the 2 lights have 2 cables each, one red and one black, I am then left with 3 remaining wires, one blue, one yellow and one black, i also presume blue is neutral, not sure which is the live feed?

Doesnt anyone have any idea how the heck I wire this lot up as I dont have a clue and dont fancy blowing myself up!!

Any help with be much appreciated!!

Thanks

 

[decolad69]

dont think you got the meaning of that post dingbat

dingbat ? is that a Glaswegian phrase ? baw bag ..........is more the Glezga patter , naw?

 

[onions1066]

chesire-suffolk 1 hour labour on job £40-£50 well done teletrix business must be umm good ?

What does that mean?

 

[telectrix]

he meant that i'd travel all the way to suffolk and back to do a 1 hour job for £40. he was joking.

 

[Chrisl]

I really didnt think I would cause all this, I am sorry I just wanted some help for fitting a light switch. i think some people have not read fully what I said, I havent removed anything, all wires are still hooked up to the original switch, I just unscrewed the switch and had a look at the wiring configuration, nothing else! All I am trying to do is put in a 2 way switch for 2 independent lights, the new swticth is slightly different than the last!

 

[onions1066]

Sorry lost on me I thought he was saying that was expensive

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I really didnt think I would cause all this, I am sorry I just wanted some help for fitting a light switch. i think some people have not read fully what I said, I havent removed anything, all wires are still hooked up to the original switch, I just unscrewed the switch and had a look at the wiring configuration, nothing else! All I am trying to do is put in a 2 way switch for 2 independent lights, the new swticth is slightly different than the last!

if you post a picture you are more likely to get some help

 

[Plonker 3]

A picture can speak a thousand words.

 

[telectrix]

I really didnt think I would cause all this, I am sorry I just wanted some help for fitting a light switch. i think some people have not read fully what I said, I havent removed anything, all wires are still hooked up to the original switch, I just unscrewed the switch and had a look at the wiring configuration, nothing else! All I am trying to do is put in a 2 way switch for 2 independent lights, the new swticth is slightly different than the last!

that makes it a bit clearer, but without a photo, we'd still be guessing. what i can say is that all the wires actually terminated in the switch will be either lives or switched lives. none will be neutrals. each switch will have terminals C, L1,L2. irrespective of how they are laid out physically, you need to fit each in the same as it is in the ols switch, one terminal at a time. however, some installations, installed in 60's and 70's were installed without cpc's ( earths ) on the lighting. if this is the case, you can't fit metal faceplates. if you do have cpc's, then the faceplate must be earthed rather than the cpc's being terminated in the back boxes. i do strongly suggest getting an electrician in to verify that it's safe to fit these new switches and that the wiring is fit for continued use.

 

[Plonker 3]

Also I do not think any qualified spark would let a first day apprentice carry out this task, so I think it will be difficult to get a explanation here when you have no one to supervise you like they would.

 

[glasgospark]

lol
MyBuilder.com - Find Trusted Builders and Tradesmen

 

[telectrix]

A picture can speak a thousand words.

he's only got 4 posts. think you need 6 to be able to asdd a pic.

 

[Plonker 3]

What about links to something like photo bucket is that the same?

 

[telectrix]

not sure. but wqhen i opened a photobucket pic last week i only got a bit of the picture filling the whole screen and no way of dumping it.

 

[Plonker 3]

Just used photo bucket as a example, there are plenty of other sites like it should he wish to use another.

 

[funkymonkeytwo]

Where in Suffolk are you if your near me ill come sort it out on my way home for a tenner us sparks don't rip people off

 

[ian.settle1]

I have a sneeky feeling why there is a red, yellow and blue wire but without a photo I'm not saying

 

[thomas-1981]

In what way are the connections of the switches different?

 

[Essexboy7]

Hi there many thanks for the reply, I didnt really want to pay anyone to do it (skint), its just a standard 2 gang light swtich I am trying to install, surelly it cant be that hard, there must be some diagrams somewhere?

No you are right mate its not that hard................. if you are a spark.But you clearly arent so you will have to pay someone who has paid thousands of pounds and spent years going to college to accquire the knowledge to do it correctly and safely.Why should we give our knowledge to you freely?

 

[glasgospark]

No you are right mate its not that hard................. if you are a spark.But you clearly arent so you will have to pay someone who has paid thousands of pounds and spent years going to college to accquire the knowledge to do it correctly and safely.Why should we give our knowledge to you freely?

i certainly havent paid thousands to become a spark

infact i had funds paid into my account 4 weekly since i started my apprentice 8 year ago

 

[telectrix]

Some of us are/were lucky. I didn't pay for my learning, but my earnings were £4/week, when my mates earned £15 in tesco.

 

[Plonker 3]

Same here Tel alot of my friends were earning good money once they left school while I slogged away at a YTS. Now I am earning good money while they are still earning a equivalent wage to when they left school.

 

[glasgospark]

4 quid a week ......ok

 

[KAS1]

15p an hour x 40hrs per week total £6.00 if I worked a Sat I took home £7.47 per week, my first pay rise was 1.5p per hour, same here only paid for the C&G exam and we got a refund from the employer after passing lol

 

[worzol99]

40 quid a week when i started 90's

 

[glasgospark]

15p an hour x 40hrs per week total £6.00 if I worked a Sat I took home £7.47 per week, my first pay rise was 1.5p per hour, same here only paid for the C&G exam and we got a refund from the employer after passing lol

Are you guys talking 1960 time

 

[KAS1]

1972 to 1973

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Mine you hit the grand a eek in the 90's lol

 

[TaffyDuck]

Come on guys its just "chucking a few wires in, how hard can it be" as a bricky once said to me. As the OP has gone AWOL I guess he is either found a sparky or is in A&E with a nasty little burn. Either way if he puts up a picture I am sure that we will all give away our collective experience of 100s of years for free so that he can get the job done on the cheap and bling up his house.

 

[plugsandsparks]

I used to live in a shoebox in the gutter, couldn't afford jack, but thanks to the government who created the industrial training levy (mid sixties) and EITB, i got to go to a training centre run and on the premises of T.I. and i got paid in cash (brown envelope) really. Before i was 17 i could gas weld, turn, file some block, oh and wire a 2G2W switch - eh those were the days

 

[Jay Sparks]

Come on guys its just "chucking a few wires in, how hard can it be" as a bricky once said to me. As the OP has gone AWOL I guess he is either found a sparky or is in A&E with a nasty little burn. Either way if he puts up a picture I am sure that we will all give away our collective experience of 100s of years for free so that he can get the job done on the cheap and bling up his house.

And that would just be tels bit.lol

 

[Golden_Boy]

Come on guys its just "chucking a few wires in, how hard can it be" as a bricky once said to me. As the OP has gone AWOL I guess he is either found a sparky or is in A&E with a nasty little burn. Either way if he puts up a picture I am sure that we will all give away our collective experience of 100s of years for free so that he can get the job done on the cheap and bling up his house.

I wish I had a quid for every time I have heard the expression " its only a few cables and some switches"
But then isnt nuclear physics "just some atoms"!

 

[decolad69]

dont think you got the meaning of that post dingbat

I would if you had closed the inverted coma's i assume it's a quotation ? It's reads as a statement! It an't the only thing you don't know when to close.