📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Replace dimmer switch with standard switch

Options
Hello

I have been trying to replace a double dimmer switch with a double standard switch but not having any luck. Can someone kindly give me directions with the following options please. 

A blue
A brown 

B blue
B Brown

C Brown
C Black
C Grey

Comments

  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 34,615 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 17 May 2020 at 7:12PM
    They need to go in the same places as they came from.  Unfortunately you didn't mark them so without a meter to test what each wire does who knows.
    Convention for C is brown to COM & black & grey to L1 & L2 but who knows how someone has actually wired it.
    A & B you need to know where they go / come from.
  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 26,265 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 17 May 2020 at 9:25PM
    You didn’t take a picture of the previous switch before you removed it, I suppose? I mean the wires, not the front.
    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • Ectophile
    Ectophile Posts: 7,983 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Can someone kindly give me directions with the following options please.

    Unless you recorded which wire went where on the old dimmer, I think the answer to your question is "no".

    Someone will need to trace where each of those wires goes, in order to work out how to wire it up again.


    If it sticks, force it.
    If it breaks, well it wasn't working right anyway.
  • Risteard
    Risteard Posts: 2,000 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 18 May 2020 at 3:10AM
    You will also need to connect the circuit protective conductors to the Earth terminal on the switch. This is vital. 

    And LAP is cheap rubbish. Abysmal quality. It's a Screwfix own brand. 
  • fenwick458
    fenwick458 Posts: 1,522 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    could be anything. I could list loads of ways to wire it up, but would need to know how the other ends of those cables are connected.
    at a guess, the most probable way of wiring, assuming all conductors were wired into the switch and none were in a choc block in the back of the switch I'd go for this:
    1st switch, brown in C, and blue in L1
    2nd switch, brown from the 3core+E into C, Black & brown from the T&E into L1, and Blue & grey into L2
    and remember to earth the switch , you can either fit a new bit of cable between the backbox & the switch or just remove the cables from the backbox and wire them directly into the switch.
    turn it on & see if it works, you may found you have mixed the 2 x twin & earths up if so that will become apparent when the 2 way switch on the other side of the room operates a different light
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351.1K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.6K Spending & Discounts
  • 244.1K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 599.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177K Life & Family
  • 257.5K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.