How do I wire these new light switches up please?

FrankFalcon

Hi all

We are renovating our house over the next few years and are doing room by room.  We have just had the Hall, stairs, landing/down toilet acces area plastered.  The plasterer had to unscrew the existing switch plates and we have decided we might as well replace the horrible existing face plates with nice new, silver plates from the same range.  However, I am not sure how to wire up the new face plates because the terminals on these new plates are marked differently from the old, existing plates.  I have 3 switches to do and with your help I will post pictures on here hoping that you guys can assist me.  Of course, it goes without saying that I will isolate the entire circuit when changing the switches.  So, here are the first 2 switches I want to replace.

Hall: This is a double switch.  You can see from the photo that the new switch and the old switch are side by side.  Please can you guys tell me which wire goes where in the new Grey switch?

Downstairs Toilet: This is a single switch.  You can see in the photo the 2 switches next to each other.  Please can you guys tell me which wire goes where?

I have put labels on (A, B, C, D, E etc) just in case somebody needs to explain anything.

Thanks in advance

GDB2222

For the toilet, put one wire in L1 and the other in L2.  

It’s a good idea to use your multimeter to understand what each terminal is connected to before you start wiring it up.  If you don’t have a multimeter, you need one. Apart from anything else, it is life preserving to check that everything really is switched off with the meter. Particularly with the hallway, which could be powered by the upstairs or downstairs lighting circuits. 

For the hallway, the new switch is marked up in almost exactly the same way as the old switch. Except that there’s one lump of plastic and the two switches are numbered 1 and 2. For example, the one you have labelled K is the L1 of switch 2. 

For the hallway, get a felt tip and mark all the wires from one of the yellow switches. Make sure they all go into the same half of the new switch.

Hopefully, this makes perfect sense. If not, get a professional.

TadleyBaggie

On the first switch, one wire into A and the other into C.

On the second the following:
Wire A -> H
Wire E -> M
Wire D -> L
Wire B -> N
Wire G -> K
Wire F -> J
Wire C (Earth) to earth post (if present)

FrankFalcon

Thanks, GBD2222 & TadleyBaggie.  I didn't think I needed to use my multimeter because I always isolate the power to the whole house by turning off the huge master switch.  

Anyway, you will see that I originally said that there were 3 switches, and indeed there are.  The reason why I didn't include pictures of the 3rd switch is that I didn't want to confuse my switches because the wiring on the following (3rd) switch is different yet again.  So, onto the 3rd switch...
The following 2 images are self-explanatory...Again, it would be great if you guys could tell me which wire goes where.

TadleyBaggie

The wire that is connected to A on the old switch needs to go to H
All the wires that go to A1 on the old switch need to M
All the wires that go to A2 on the old switch need to L
The other end of the loop wire (S) can go to N
Wire X can go to either J or K

km1500

GDB2222 said:

For the toilet, put one wire in L1 and the other in L2.  

It’s a good idea to use your multimeter to understand what each terminal is connected to before you start wiring it up.  If you don’t have a multimeter, you need one. Apart from anything else, it is life preserving to check that everything really is switched off with the meter. Particularly with the hallway, which could be powered by the upstairs or downstairs lighting circuits. 

For the hallway, the new switch is marked up in almost exactly the same way as the old switch. Except that there’s one lump of plastic and the two switches are numbered 1 and 2. For example, the one you have labelled K is the L1 of switch 2. 

For the hallway, get a felt tip and mark all the wires from one of the yellow switches. Make sure they all go into the same half of the new switch.

Hopefully, this makes perfect sense. If not, get a professional.

Totally agree about multimeter.

Went to change my outside pir lamp  and before I did I turned everything off at the consumer unit.

Then used my multimeter only to find there was still 240 volts on the light - it had been wired in using a separate isolating switch outside the consumer unit.

FrankFalcon

Thanks Guys, especially Tadleybaggie... This post has a good start and a not-so-good ending...The advice given was so good that I replaced all 3 switches within 30 minutes.  That allowed me time for a couple of pints down the Club.  Unfortunately, the sun was out and a couple of mates were in the club.  That couple of pints turned into a 'few' pints.  I'm now £30 down and got a flea in the ear of er indoors but at least the switches are sorted 

GDB2222

FrankFalcon said:

Thanks Guys, especially Tadleybaggie... This post has a good start and a not-so-good ending...The advice given was so good that I replaced all 3 switches within 30 minutes.  That allowed me time for a couple of pints down the Club.  Unfortunately, the sun was out and a couple of mates were in the club.  That couple of pints turned into a 'few' pints.  I'm now £30 down and got a flea in the ear of er indoors but at least the switches are sorted 

At least, you did the electrical work before going to the club. 

flaneurs_lobster

Sort of on-topic - could people recommend or otherwise their multimeters please. Wouldn't get used more than a couple of times a year and be good if it could be used for connectivity(?)/conductivity(?) testing on small electricals.

GDB2222

flaneurs_lobster said:

Sort of on-topic - could people recommend or otherwise their multimeters please. Wouldn't get used more than a couple of times a year and be good if it could be used for connectivity(?)/conductivity(?) testing on small electricals.

They’ll all do what you want. I have recently bought one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonCommercial-Manual-Ranging-Digital-Multimeter/dp/B083V82H97


It seems okay. 

flaneurs_lobster

GDB2222 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Sort of on-topic - could people recommend or otherwise their multimeters please. Wouldn't get used more than a couple of times a year and be good if it could be used for connectivity(?)/conductivity(?) testing on small electricals.

They’ll all do what you want. I have recently bought one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonCommercial-Manual-Ranging-Digital-Multimeter/dp/B083V82H97


It seems okay. 

Sorry, didn't acknowledge your recommendation, I've gone with the above. 

Thanks.