urgent Plz...Wiring a switch!

[Martin_M]

Alucidnation said:

ok, it looks like one of the brown wires should go to the light and the rest are circuit wires, however, seeing that the blue has been sleeved as the earth, it makes me wonder what else isnt as it seems.

Is there an extractor fan in there as well?

There should be a grey wire in there somewhere as well

Edited by Alucidnation on Tuesday 28th July 21:56

Edit: the grey wire is attached to a little plastic box and sits in the wall recess.

[Alucidnation]

Sorry i edited whilst you were replying.

There should be a grey wire in there somewhere.

And that blue wire with the green/yellow sleeve. Where does the other end of that go?

Is the fan switch next to the main light switch?


Edit: can you take a pic of the grey wire with the box?

[Martin_M]

Edit again - just tried the extractor fan and it isn't working when I use the other switch. At present, light is on permanently.

[Martin_M]

wire is attached to one of these

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=grey+wire+switch...

The light has worked perfectly for years - I loosened the switch cover to paint and felt some wires come out which is why this situation has occurred :-(

[Alucidnation]

Ok, at a guess you have the light switch wires crossed somewhere.

the grey and black wire will also have a brown wire with the 'set' (3 core cable and earth.

these would normally feed a fan.

I think what you need to do is remove the 3 wires in the set, and cap them off with a connector block like in the picture for now, but keep them each in their own connection in the block and not put them in one terminal

Once you have done that, ONE of the remaining brown wires will need to go to either l1 or l2. This will be the wire feeding the light, and the other two will be the circuit loop and must be connected together, this, im afraid will be trial and error.

Try that but do it safely with the power off!!!

[Martin_M]

Really appreciate your help as I'm clueless but why would I want to cap the brown wires off - they have been in the L terminal for 4 years with no problems so I don't think they are the issue. The dark brown and black were the loose cables so I'm thinking it's a problem there...

Edit: you didn't say cap the brown wires did you lol I'm reluctant to cap any off though as it worked this morning with every wire in the right place, it's just that I'm not sure where the right place for the remaining two wires is.

[Alucidnation]

No, the brown, grey and black wires i think feed the fan, so to save confusion, remove them from the problem for now.

with the remailing three brown wires one will go to the light like this...

https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?p=loop+at+switc...

[Martin_M]

I understand...I think! I'll try it in the morning when I have some light.

I don't have any of those plastic things but what you're saying is, remove the dark brown and black wires from L1/L2 and try one of the three light brown wires currently in L, in L1 ? Then continue trial and error to see if it works? So I'll end up with two light brown wires in L and a third in L1?

Assuming the light then worked, where would the dark brown and black wires go if they are for the fan right enough?

[Alucidnation]

Martin_M said:

I understand...I think! I'll try it in the morning when I have some light.

I don't have any of those plastic things but what you're saying is, remove the dark brown and black wires from L1/L2 and try one of the three light brown wires currently in L, in L1 ? Then continue trial and error to see if it works? So I'll end up with two light brown wires in L and a third in L1- YEP!

Assuming the light then worked, where would the dark brown and black wires go if they are for the fan right enough?
LETS GET THE LIGHTS ON FIRST

My bold!

[Martin_M]

Ok thanks - the reason I ask about the remaining two wires in because I'll be out tomorrow and assuming the above works, the wires will need to simply hang out of the fitting - will that be okay?

[Alucidnation]

With the power off, cut off the exposed copper at the end of each of those wires and even wrap some proper insulating tape around the ends, just in case, but they should be dead as they feed the fan somewhere along the line.

[Martin_M]

Okay, thanks again - will try what you suggested and post back!

[Alucidnation]

[Martin_M]

Did what you said sir and the switch is now working with two of the light brown wires in L and a third in L1.

That leaves me with the dark brown and black - I did try a few combinations but couldn't get the fan to work. We rarely use the downstairs toilet so I'm not sure if the light needs to be on for the fan to work. The fan has its own switch above the door so I'm guessing not.

Looking forward to hearing how I sort this and thanks once again!

Martin

[ndg]

The switch above the door is an isolator for the permanent live to the fan (for the timer overun). The fan will only work with this and the light switch on.

I'm not a sparky, but I'd suggest that you need one, or a friend who is a bit handy to help you with this. I'm all for learning, but diagnosis by internet is potentially dangerous, especially if they have been bodged done incorrectly before (see neutral cable used as earth - that just doesn't seem right).

Edited by ndg on Wednesday 29th July 10:10

[Martin_M]

Thanks but previous advice has worked so far - I'm only left with the black and dark brown wires so hopefully the man in the know will be able to advise me later :-)

[spikeyhead]

You really should have a sparky. Find a local one using the niceic website and it should only be an hours work to make sure you don't end up leaving something dangerous.

[Martin_M]

spikeyhead said:

You really should have a sparky. Find a local one using the niceic website and it should only be an hours work to make sure you don't end up leaving something dangerous.

I'm not paying a sparky to come in to position two wires for me - Alucidnation will hopefully help me with the final couple of wires.

[Martin_M]

I managed to fix it, using the same principle as above!

Thanks once again lucid!

[Martin_M]

I managed to fix it, using the same principle as above!

Thanks once again lucid!