Help With Wiring and Changing Light Switches for new Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[squeezycheese]

https://imgur.com/gallery/qzCXBmX

Hi,

I have recently bought my first flat. As part of fixing it up I'm swapping light switches out for nicer ones. In the living room there are two separate light fittings at each end of the room. They were controlled by a single box, with 2 dimmer switches on the panel., Each switch controlled 1 light. So I could have both on, left on and right off, Right on and left off or both off. The first image in the IMGUR album shows how the dimmer box was wired (I can still track which wire was where).

I've decided to swap it out for a 2 gang, 2 way switch, with just an up and down (no dimmer). I tried putting wires in each common and L1, but this meant that only the left light would turn on. I've tried multiple other configurations, with no success. The current configuration is shown in the other 2 images in the album. This configuration results in both lights turning on and off, but only from the left switch, with the right switch doing nothing.

Any help to reestablishing independent control of each light would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks

[KitchenGuy]

It's obviously hard to tell without looking at it first hand. That said it looks to me that both lights are fed from a common live. That being the one with a piece of brown sleeving on it on the dimmer photo. It seems split into two browns which were the live feeds for each light on the dimmer switch. The black wire coming from one of the browns in the dimmer switch connection I would say is a feed that continues to somewhere else. You may have a light down somewhere else no you have disconnected it if you look around.

So establish that brown sleeve wire is live with a tester and then turn off the supply. Connect that live wire to one of the commons with a loop of wire from that common connection to the other common. Also connect the black wire which is connected to one of the brown wires in the dimmer switch to the common. The other two wires - one into L1 of one switch and one into L1 of the other switch. If you wish to change which switch turns on which light just swop the two L1 wires.

Hope that makes sense, it's hard to explain in text.

[squeezycheese]

Thanks for the help, I'll try it tomorrow in daylight.

Though i should probably have mentioned that i added the splitter from the live (that wire is definitely live) as i figured that as the switch wasn't working it needed power to it.

[squeezycheese]

https://imgur.com/gallery/pEPUlCs

Thanks for the help.

I have had a go at redoing it following your instructions and the current wiring looks like above.

What now happens is that both switches turn both lights on and off.

Left switch ON + Right Switch OFF= BOTH Lights ON
Left switch OFF + RIght Switch ON= BOTH Lights ON
Left Switch ON + Right Switch ON= BOTH Lights ON
Left Switch OFF + Right Switch OFF= BOTH Lights OFF

Any ideas how to sort this?