Wiring for Light pull switch

Iconic

I am having trouble connecting the wires for a replacement bathroom light pull switch.

The old switch had two red wires going into one terminal and one red and one black wire going into the other terminal. The switch controls the light and a fan hence the four wires.

My new switch is a Crabtree Capital Ceiling Switch with a neon indicator. It has four terminals and in the general notes it says 'on DP switch the supply cables must be to terminals marked IN (L2 AND L3) and load cables to terminals marked OUT(L1AND L4)'

I thought the supply cables were the two red cables so I connected them to L2 and I connected the red and black cables to L1. The neon light comes on but the light and the fan don't!

Can somebody tell me what I am doing wrong.

espresso

Iconic wrote: »

I am having trouble connecting the wires for a replacement bathroom light pull switch.

The old switch had two red wires going into one terminal and one red and one black wire going into the other terminal. The switch controls the light and a fan hence the four wires.

My new switch is a Crabtree Capital Ceiling Switch with a neon indicator. It has four terminals and in the general notes it says 'on DP switch the supply cables must be to terminals marked IN (L2 AND L3) and load cables to terminals marked OUT(L1AND L4)'

I thought the supply cables were the two red cables so I connected them to L2 and I connected the red and black cables to L1. The neon light comes on but the light and the fan don't!

Can somebody tell me what I am doing wrong.

It sounds like your previous switch was a single pole and your new switch is a double pole. e.g. L1 connect to L2 when ON and L3 connects to L4 when ON with the neon connected across the load terminals L1 & L4.

Iconic

espresso wrote: »

It sounds like your previous switch was a single pole and your new switch is a double pole. e.g. L1 connect to L2 when ON and L3 connects to L4 when ON with the neon connected across the load terminals L1 & L4.

Many thanks for your reply. What do I do now?

DVardysShadow

Iconic wrote: »

I am having trouble connecting the wires for a replacement bathroom light pull switch.

The old switch had two red wires going into one terminal and one red and one black wire going into the other terminal. The switch controls the light and a fan hence the four wires. [1]

My new switch is a Crabtree Capital Ceiling Switch with a neon indicator. It has four terminals and in the general notes it says 'on DP switch the supply cables must be to terminals marked IN (L2 AND L3) and load cables to terminals marked OUT(L1AND L4)'

I thought the supply cables were the two red cables so I [2] connected them to L2 and I connected the red and black cables to L1. The neon light comes on but the light and the fan don't!

Can somebody tell me what I am doing wrong.

Doing wrong:

[1] When you describe the wires, you are missing important information. You also need to describe which cables the wires are in.

[2] You assumed what the wires are without understanding how the old setup worked

Do you know enough to be able to put it back the way it was with the old switch? Could you say which wires belong in which cable? And is the fan one of those which runs on for a while?

Iconic

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Doing wrong:

[1] When you describe the wires, you are missing important information. You also need to describe which cables the wires are in.

[2] You assumed what the wires are without understanding how the old setup worked

Do you know enough to be able to put it back the way it was with the old switch? Could you say which wires belong in which cable? And is the fan one of those which runs on for a while?

Thank you for your help.

I have located the light wires......one black and one red. The other two red wires are for the fan. A switched socket for the fan was installed a couple of years ago that's why there are two red wires.

Is the above enough to tell me how to wire the new switch?

ormus

DVardysShadow

Iconic wrote: »

Thank you for your help.

I have located the light wires......one black and one red. The other two red wires are for the fan. A switched socket for the fan was installed a couple of years ago that's why there are two red wires.

Is the above enough to tell me how to wire the new switch?

You are still talking about 'wires'. Please take a look at ormus' picture and draw the distinction between 'wire' and 'cable'. I suspect you have 4 wires from 3 cables which leaves some mysteries to be resolved. [Is any of the wires colour coded with tape?]

And to avoid some wild goose chases, please tell us whether the fan is one which runs on after the light is switched off.

Myser

Sounds like your new switch is for an immersion heater or electric shower hence the double pole (DP) contacts, neon and separate load connections.

All you needed was a standard light pull switch.

Iconic

DVardysShadow wrote: »

You are still talking about 'wires'. Please take a look at ormus' picture and draw the distinction between 'wire' and 'cable'. I suspect you have 4 wires from 3 cables which leaves some mysteries to be resolved. [Is any of the wires colour coded with tape?]

And to avoid some wild goose chases, please tell us whether the fan is one which runs on after the light is switched off.

Does this help?

DVardysShadow

Iconic wrote: »

Does this help?

Yes it does. This is what you have as I see it

1. Cable 1: Red to ???
2. Cable 1: Black to ???
3. Cable 2: Red to ???
4. Cable 2: Black to 6
5. Cable 3: Red to ???
6. Cable 3: Black to 4

Can you copy the above table and fill in the ???'s above? This gives the information required to make sense of the situation. Can you see that by missing out the information about which cables the wires are in, you are denying us important information about how this works?

Obviously the greens are earth. Can't quite see it but what sort of connector are they in? Not directly relevant to your problem, but now we see it we need to be sureit is safe

Now are you going to insist that we guess whether your fan is one of those which stays on for a while after the light is switched off? Or will you tell us?

Iconic

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Yes it does. This is what you have as I see it

1. Cable 1: Red to ???
2. Cable 1: Black to ???
3. Cable 2: Red to ???
4. Cable 2: Black to 6
5. Cable 3: Red to ???
6. Cable 3: Black to 4

Can you copy the above table and fill in the ???'s above? This gives the information required to make sense of the situation. Can you see that by missing out the information about which cables the wires are in, you are denying us important information about how this works?

Obviously the greens are earth. Can't quite see it but what sort of connector are they in? Not directly relevant to your problem, but now we see it we need to be sureit is safe

Now are you going to insist that we guess whether your fan is one of those which stays on for a while after the light is switched off? Or will you tell us?

Thank you for your continued help.

The reason I have not answered your question about the fan is because I am not 100% sure. It's my son's house and he has gone away for a few days. I think it stays on for a while but I am not certain.

I have had another look at the connections.There are three cables and the neutral of each cable are connected together.The earths are shielded and the three live red wires are loose as shown in the picture I attached to my previous message. I cannot make out where the other black wire comes from because it just appears from the ceiling with nothing attached to it.