Lightswitch Wiring Problem

daggy

Hi,

I'm trying to wire a 1 gang two way lightswitch....

It's a little odd so far as the light at the top of the stairs is a 1 gang and the light at the bottom is a two gang.. I'm having problems with the light at the top of the stairs; it's all wired in, but when I flick the switch in the main control box downstairs it trips back to off.




That's how the original switch was wired


These are the earth wires for the original switch, one for upstairs and one for the downstairs circuit?



This is the new switch



The earth cables for the new switch

The switches are metal so I originally attempted to take the two hard wired earths out of the backbox slot and put them into the slot on the switchplate, however, I couldn't get them and thr supplementary earth that was going to run from plate to box in the slot on the faceplate as it's too small.

I tried to trim some cable off the to hardwired earths to get them in, but it still wouldn't go... So I put them back in the backbox and ran one cable from the switchplate to box instead, is this ok?

Can anyone suggest why this is tripping the circuit breaker?

I'm aa bit of a novice, so apologies for my electrical noobness.

sillygoose

Do you mean... Is it the circuit breaker (just like a big switch) that is tripping or the RCD (like a big switch but with a little button marked 'Test' on it) that is tripping?

daggy

Hi, yeah, it's the cb on the right hand side where the lighting circuits are, specifically, the one for the upstairs lights

Also, is it ok for me to run a piece of earth cable from the switch to the back box and just plug the other two earth cables directly to the bb?

do i need to twist all three earth cables together before putting them in the bb or can i just slot them in and tighten screw?

cheers

DVardysShadow

What you propose to do with the back box is OK. But your jumper from the back box to the switch should ideally be solid conductor. Stranded and solid don't play well together in the same terminal.

If you have not done anything anywhere else [ceiling rose?], then I would say you have a nick in the insulation of a conductor. I am assuming you have no RCD. If you do have one controlling the lights, do let us know, because it may be relevant

irnbru_2

daggy wrote: »

Can anyone suggest why this is tripping the circuit breaker?

It looks like you cut the insulation on the live circuit. See the red cable in front of the yellow common at the right-side of the picture. When you attach it to the back box, it's causing a short.

daggy

fixed it guys.... I think that when I initially rewired it, I didn't put the earth wires into the back box properly, they were infront of the plate instead of behind, so they may not have earther properly... this would trid the fuse, wouldn't it?

Also,I've noticed that the dobule gang switch downstairs works upside down.... I haven't put the new switch on so this is how it was wired... how do I male it work the correct way?

Think I'll get a sparky to check the integrity of the wiring for the switches on the stairs, better to be safe than sorry

sillygoose

irnbru wrote: »

It looks like you cut the insulation on the live circuit. See the red cable in front of the yellow common at the right-side of the picture. When you attach it to the back box, it's causing a short.

Good grief! well spotted!!!, thats deadly op!

daggy

DVardysShadow wrote: »

What you propose to do with the back box is OK. But your jumper from the back box to the switch should ideally be solid conductor. Stranded and solid don't play well together in the same terminal.

If you have not done anything anywhere else [ceiling rose?], then I would say you have a nick in the insulation of a conductor. I am assuming you have no RCD. If you do have one controlling the lights, do let us know, because it may be relevant

Erm no ceiling work, just swapping of ligthswitches. Is an RCD the big box in the living room with loads of fused switches on?

Do yuo suggest I buy some solid copper wire and sleeving? I looked for it but b and q didnt have any that i could see.

irnbru wrote: »

It looks like you cut the insulation on the live circuit. See the red cable in front of the yellow common at the right-side of the picture. When you attach it to the back box, it's causing a short.

I hadn't noticed that actually... think it may require the work of a pro to fix... I don't mind some DIY, but electricity is not something I'm going to play with

DVardysShadow

An RCD is a Residual Current Device - a circuit breaker for earth faults which disconnects the whole consumer unit or a large part of it. It can be integral with the Consumer Unit or separate. Before you undertake any more electrical work, you should really understand your supply and its electrical protection.

As for solid wire, the usual way to get this is to cut a piece from some scrap cable. Sleeving is readily available.

daggy

Thanks guys....

I think there is an RCD is in the consumer unit there is a test button on the u/lights switch and on a few others, when it was tripped by the short, all of the lights went off.. as in d/stairs and u/stairs

I've got a sparky coming out today so I shall clarify with him/her... also, I think the split may have been there before as a while ago all of the u/lights went out and when the sparky came out he flicked the fuse and they came back on, not sure if it had occured before that as we havent lived here long

I have no single copper wire, might see if the sparky will sell me a bit of it.