Issue with double dimmer switch...

thirtythirty

Hey,
Hopefully this question hasnt been done to death (had a search but couldnt find my problem), but im having issues with a double dimmer switch.

Ok, the setup first.

In my living room, i fitted a double dimmer. The right hand dimmer controls the living room lights (like it should), but the left hand one seems to control the kitchen. i.e. the kitchen switch (straight flick switch) will only work when the left dimmer is clicked to "on", which is fine, though id rather it didnt control the kitchen at all. But that doesnt matter.

Anyway here's my problem. I have 4 brown, two blue, and two green/yellow.

The green/yellows (earth i assume) are tied together in a little plastic thing, as it was setup like that when i got it.
In the right dimmer (which controls the living room lights and works correctly) i have 2 of the browns going into L1 and L2, and a blue going into a "wavy cross symbol" slot. Works fine.
However, i have the other left dimmer setup the same way and it worked for a little while, then the bulbs all stopped working, i replaced them assuming coincidence, they worked, then a while later they flickered, now they dont work.
Clearly i have something wrong, but have no idea what since my right hand dimmer is setup the same way and works fine.

So A) is there a way i can tie the non-working two brown and one blue to something, or should i try switching the L1 L2 browns, or C) is there something else?

Thats a bit confusing i know, if u need a picture ill see if i can get one...

Cheers

edit: i should also mention there are 3 other blue wires, all tied together in a little plastic thing. So maybe should i put the extra blue in there and tie the two browns together?

M cebee

i think you should call a sparkie at this stage

one of the dimmers is switching the kitchen feed anyhow so is prob getting 'overloaded'

is there 2-ways in the sitting room or just the double-dimmer?

you can try a picture ,might get it sorted

thirtythirty

M cebee wrote: »

i think you should call a sparkie at this stage

Never! I have a sparkie friend who's away at the moment, ill get him to have a look if i cant get it done.

M cebee wrote: »

one of the dimmers is switching the kitchen feed anyhow so is prob getting 'overloaded'

is there 2-ways in the sitting room or just the double-dimmer?

you can try a picture ,might get it sorted

There is another switch in the living room that if switched will stop the living room (right dimmer) working.But 90% sure that's not the cause.

Here's a pic of the tied wires and the dimmer back.

The trouble wires are the ones on the right of the pic (left dimmer looking at front).

My current plan is to add the blue one into the 3 tied blue ones, and then get a tie to put the two brown ones currently in L1 and L2 together. Do you think that would bypass whatever issue the dimmer is causing and just leave the kitchen as a straight switch on/off?

ShamFeen

Ok first of all take an earth from your earth cables and connect it to the switch as it is made of conductive material. With your problematic switch find out which one of the three is live with all lights off. This goes into the terminal marked by the symbol. Pick a cable from the other 2 and connect it to L1. What happens next? If this is switching the kitchen light, this is a feed and needs to be joined in the same terminal (one with symbol). Connect the other cable and see if this switches your light. This is for one way switching. If the switch is part of a two way system, or if you have any problems p.m me

Bruthal

spottyelephant wrote: »

Never! I have a sparkie friend who's away at the moment, ill get him to have a look if i cant get it done.



There is another switch in the living room that if switched will stop the living room (right dimmer) working.But 90% sure that's not the cause.

Here's a pic of the tied wires and the dimmer back.

The trouble wires are the ones on the right of the pic (left dimmer looking at front).

My current plan is to add the blue one into the 3 tied blue ones, and then get a tie to put the two brown ones currently in L1 and L2 together. Do you think that would bypass whatever issue the dimmer is causing and just leave the kitchen as a straight switch on/off?

I think waiting for your sparks friend is the best option. There are feeds and switch wires mixed up there. An electrician will quickly easily sort that. Why a double dimmer, was it a double switch for 2 living room lights before, and what did the other switch do in living room when was working properly.

Also looks as if the blue in the dimmer that does dim living room lights is actually a strapper from the other rocker switch in living room (if other switch is second one for living room lights?)and is into the dimmer feed (common) instead of L1 or L2 resulting in dimmer having no feed or else rocker switch now having one of its strappers coming from dimmer common,,, either way it wont work when the rocker switch in living room is in one position and so stopping dimmer then operating living room lights. Take off that rocker switch and see is there a blue going into either L1 or L2 of that. That will tell us part of the problem. The kitchen feed which is now being dimmed by other dimmer switch is also in the wrong connection.

But no way to tell for sure by photos
If the blue into left switch in pic, (right from front) is in the same cable as one of the browns in the same switch then they almost certainly should be that pair ( brown and blue) into L1 and L2 and other brown into feed (with wave symbol). That should fix living room 2 way setup.

In the problem switch just try putting the 2 browns together in L1 or L2 and see what happens.
As for bulbs blowing, are the ordinary incandescent or CFL bulbs.



As shamfeen says you need to identify which is the live feed to the dimmer switches and use it to see what the other wires are, which is really a job for electricians.

M cebee

well that's it imo


no point trying to coach people through these jobs as they/somebody else may get fried in the process:(

maxamillius

im all for helping people out put if we were to coach someone step by step in this whole process we would be out of a job lads,this is not a diy fix in my oppinion to hard to see whats going on from photos,needs to be looked at by a competent sparks,dont wanna offend anyone or anything but there is a reason we are qualified sparks!

thirtythirty

Ok cheers guys. I'm going to tentively try that when i get home from work...but if i doesnt work i reckon i'll just go ahead and call a spark (mate's still and away and don't really know if i fully trust him anyway!).

I think it's just a bit of a mess, because originally it was just a single switch for the living room and those extra kitchen wires were done very strangely and now don't really suit a dimmer.

One of the bulbs that blew was a standard incandesant one, the other two were cfl hippy bulbs...which i read yesterday have to be specifically dimmer compliant in order to work with a dimmer (altho we never actually dimmed them, just had it up full the whole time). Damn EU legislation and their forcing c.rap hippy bulbs on me. Can't stand cfls.

edit - any idea what you'd expect it to cost? Literally have no idea.

Bruthal

maxamillius wrote: »

im all for helping people out put if we were to coach someone step by step in this whole process we would be out of a job lads,this is not a diy fix in my oppinion to hard to see whats going on from photos,needs to be looked at by a competent sparks,dont wanna offend anyone or anything but there is a reason we are qualified sparks!

All out of a job, i like that one.

Bruthal

spottyelephant wrote: »

Ok cheers guys. I'm going to tentively try that when i get home from work...but if i doesnt work i reckon i'll just go ahead and call a spark (mate's still and away and don't really know if i fully trust him anyway!).

I think it's just a bit of a mess, because originally it was just a single switch for the living room and those extra kitchen wires were done very strangely and now don't really suit a dimmer.

One of the bulbs that blew was a standard incandesant one, the other two were cfl hippy bulbs...which i read yesterday have to be specifically dimmer compliant in order to work with a dimmer (altho we never actually dimmed them, just had it up full the whole time). Damn EU legislation and their forcing c.rap hippy bulbs on me. Can't stand cfls.

edit - any idea what you'd expect it to cost? Literally have no idea.

All depends, if it was someone next door i would`t charge them to fix that, but if you just call out an electrician it will cost a few euros, probably minimum call out etc. Your better off getting someone anyway, as it really is`t a DIY task as has been pointed out. Where are you living?