dimmer sitch

jazzman 1963

Hope someone can help,i want to run two sets of lights from a 2 gang dimmer
the switch has two connections each marked L1 and L2 and com i want to feed off one one live.each set of lights are looped seperately can anyone advise on wiring

Andrea B.

Hi.
On each switch treat com and L1 as your switch contact terminals for each respective set of lights.

Your permanent live (switch feed) should be looped (bridged) between the coms.

Each light set (switch wire) should be fed from respective L1's.

The L2's are a bit of over-engineering, but there to cater for 2-way switching circuits.

Does this help?

jazzman 1963

Andrea B. wrote: »

Hi.
On each switch treat com and L1 as your switch contact terminals for each respective set of lights.

Your permanent live (switch feed) should be looped (bridged) between the coms.

Each light set (switch wire) should be fed from respective L1's.

The L2's are a bit of over-engineering, but there to cater for 2-way switching circuits.

Does this help?

what about the neutral feed and the neutral wires for each set of lights

watty

The neutrals all connect together.

The dimmer is a switch

               ____com _/_L1__________________
              |                         |     |
fused live ___|_____com _/_L1___        |     |
                                |       |     | 
.                               *lamp   *lamps*
neutral ________________________|_______|_____|



_/_  is Dimmer switch shown as an ordinary switch

* are lamps (never CFL or florescent) 
Double Dimmer rating for Halogen
first switch is shown with two lamps

If the Dimmer requires a neutral then add it from either/any light.

jazzman 1963

watty wrote: »

The neutrals all connect together.

The dimmer is a switch

               ____com _/_L1__________________
              |                         |     |
fused live ___|_____com _/_L1___        |     |
                                |       |     | 
.                               *lamp   *lamps*
neutral ________________________|_______|_____|



_/_  is Dimmer switch shown as an ordinary switch

* are lamps (never CFL or florescent) 
Double Dimmer rating for Halogen
first switch is shown with two lamps

If the Dimmer requires a neutral then add it from either/any light.

I tried this but when i switch on i keep tripping the main breaker,i am using a 10 amp mcb for the lights 6 lights on each switch with 50 watt bulbs

DublinDilbert

jazzman 1963 wrote: »

I tried this but when i switch on i keep tripping the main breaker,i am using a 10 amp mcb for the lights 6 lights on each switch with 50 watt bulbs

Can you define what you mean by main breaker? the 10A MCB that feeds the lighting circuit or the RCD?

Is this a completely new lighting circuit your adding, or just upgrading the switch on an existing circuit to a dimmer?

istabraq

sounds like a direct short check where u have the neutral connected

jazzman 1963

DublinDilbert wrote: »

Can you define what you mean by main breaker? the 10A MCB that feeds the lighting circuit or the RCD?

Is this a completely new lighting circuit your adding, or just upgrading the switch on an existing circuit to a dimmer?

The RCD keeps tripping and it is a new lighting circuit

jazzman 1963

istabraq wrote: »

sounds like a direct short check where u have the neutral connected

The 2 neutrals from the lights are connected to the feed neutral but not through the switch the live feed is in com and looped with the 2 live for the lights in LI on each switch

DublinDilbert

jazzman 1963 wrote: »

The RCD keeps tripping and it is a new lighting circuit

Yea as the poster above has said i would guess you have the neutral connected to the wrong neutral bar in the fuse board.

From the sounds of it it's connected to the neutral bus bar for the sockets. It should be connected to the other one.

jazzman 1963

DublinDilbert wrote: »

Yea as the poster above has said i would guess you have the neutral connected to the wrong neutral bar in the fuse board.

From the sounds of it it's connected to the neutral bus bar for the sockets. It should be connected to the other one.

Spot on that worked thanks for your help

watty

I should have marked that on my circuit. I just assumed you had tapped into existing lighting circuit.

The sockets trip detects any imbalance current on sockets live or neutral

Glad you sorted