Outside light problems

milliemonster

Hi everyone, please forgive me if this has been asked before or seems a stupid question.

We are trying to install two lights outside our front door and are having some problems. We previously had a single light outside our front door but have built a porch and want a light either side.

The problem Wehave at the moment is that we can only get one light to work properly? We have power from the mains going to the light and another cable from the inside light switch to it. We have run a piece of cable from the first light to the second for power and another cable from the second light back to the switch.

The switch is a three way at the bottom of our stairs, one switch for light at bottom of the stairs, one for the top of stairs and the third for the outside light.

When it's all wired up and it's switced on the light with mains power direct to it works perfectly but the second doesn't. However when switched off both lights come on but are somewhat dull.

Can anyone shed some light in this (pardon the pun), I'm at the end of my tether and am pulling out my hair in frustration.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

keystone

milliemonster wrote: »

and another cable from the second light back to the switch.

Thats your mistake. You've wired it wrong. If the switch operates the first light then if you wire the second light to the first N to N, SwL to SwL and E to E you don't need a further cable back to ths switch for the second light.

When it's all wired up and it's switced on the light with mains power direct to it works perfectly but the second doesn't. However when switched off both lights come on but are somewhat dull.

Your unecessary second cable back to the switch is connected to the wrong terminals.

Cheers

milliemonster

Many thanks for replying. Have removed the second switch cable and the lights were already wired as you said, L to L, N to N etc. However I still find that when switched on the light wired to the mains works properly but both are still on when switched off albeit both are dull.

Myser

Go back to having just the single light that used to work wired up. Does that still glow dimly when the switch is off? If so, then you need to check the connections you made to the switch.

keystone

You did connect to the switched live at the old lamp didn't you?

Cheers

Stooby2

It might be worth getting an electrician in to do it properly as it appears you're not familiar with wiring etc. I understand that the work should be certificated now anyway.

milliemonster

keystone wrote: »

You did connect to the switched live at the old lamp didn't you?

Cheers

That was my problem, had gotten myself so bogged down with it I missed the blindingly obvious!

Thank you ever so much for the proverbial wake up call. Such a basic mistake, I should have seen it myself.

You are a star!