4 brown wires in light switch problem!

dickwod1

Hi,

I've replaced all the light switch plates in my house and have done them all grand except for my en suite switch where I wasn't paying attention to the order of the wires as I thought it would be the same as all the rest of them.

It has 4 brown wires, one with the insulation stripped back and I cant tell which wire is for Com L1/L2 Earth etc.

Any help welcome

D.

salmocab

None are for earth so you can’t replace the switch with a steel one if that’s what your doing.
The one with the nick out of it is likely a feed.

kingstevii

dickwod1 wrote: »

Hi,

I've replaced all the light switch plates in my house and have done them all grand except for my en suite switch where I wasn't paying attention to the order of the wires as I thought it would be the same as all the rest of them.

It has 4 brown wires, one with the insulation stripped back and I cant tell which wire is for Com L1/L2 Earth etc.

Any help welcome

D.

Was it a single switch? And were three wires in one connection originally?
The one with the nick is usually the marking for the switch wire, which goes directly to the light.

meercat

dickwod1 wrote: »

Hi,

I've replaced all the light switch plates in my house and have done them all grand except for my en suite switch where I wasn't paying attention to the order of the wires as I thought it would be the same as all the rest of them.

It has 4 brown wires, one with the insulation stripped back and I cant tell which wire is for Com L1/L2 Earth etc.

Any help welcome

D.

At a guess I’d say
The wire with a nick in it is the switch wire. Connect to L1
Put the other 3 wires into com


Kingstevii quicker typing

dickwod1

Yeah a single switch, in the bedroom outside the ensuite door,

kingstevii

salmocab wrote: »

None are for earth so you can’t replace the switch with a steel one if that’s what your doing.
The one with the nick out of it is likely a feed.

I always nicked the switch wires, in case it was 2, 3 or 4 gang switch..

kingstevii

meercat wrote: »

At a guess I’d say
The wire with a nick in it is the switch wire. Connect to L1
Put the other 3 wires into com


Kingstevii quicker typing

This.

KERSPLAT!

Nick was always in the switch wire for me too

Edit: it's likely feed in, feed out and a loop into a shaving socket or mirror light. So as above, the nicked cable is the L1, other three in common

salmocab

kingstevii wrote: »

I always nicked the switch wires, in case it was 2, 3 or 4 gang switch..

I used to give the feeds a nick, although it’s been a while and generally I used a sharpie.

meercat

I’d always nick the switch wires too but double the conductor over to connect into switch

salmocab

It would appear that I did it differently to everyone else

meercat

salmocab wrote: »

It would appear that I did it differently to everyone else

Works for you so that’s what matters

dickwod1

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

Nick was always in the switch wire for me too

Edit: it's likely feed in, feed out and a loop into a shaving socket or mirror light. So as above, the nicked cable is the L1, other three in common

I tried above and light still not coming on and yes there is a mirror pull string light in the ensuite,

KERSPLAT!

dickwod1 wrote: »

I tried above and light still not coming on and yes there is a mirror pull string light in the ensuite,

Ok, one is definitely your feed and one is definitely your switch wire to the light. If you're sure there's no issues with MCBs tripped (I assume not if all your other lights are working) then you need to identify those first. The cable with the nick, touch that off each of the other cables and see if the light comes on.

meercat

dickwod1 wrote: »

I tried above and light still not coming on and yes there is a mirror pull string light in the ensuite,

Check the previous switch that all cables are inserted

If you have all cables connected into your ensuite light switch and it’s turned on then something should work. The problem is beforehand otherwise

KERSPLAT!

Any joy? I'm very impatient

dickwod1

meercat wrote: »

Check the previous switch that all cables are inserted

If you have all cables connected into your ensuite light switch and it’s turned on then something should work. The problem is beforehand otherwise

YES The switch before was the problem point, Had wires going into L1 and L2 put both in L1 and job done

Thanks everyone for your help.

Risteard81

You should have a REC look at the wiring. There is no cpc present at the switch despite the fact that this is mandatory.

The fact the existing wiring is brown and not red does nothing to inspire confidence in someone who didn't bother installing a cpc. To me it renders the entire installation suspect.

meercat

Risteard81 wrote: »

You should have a REC look at the wiring. There is no cpc present at the switch despite the fact that this is mandatory.

The fact the existing wiring is brown and not red does nothing to inspire confidence in someone who didn't bother installing a cpc. To me it renders the entire installation suspect.

Not sure when Brown pvc/pvc was introduced but i don’t think a cpc was a regulation at switch points at the time.

dickwod1

House was built around '92 and that was the original light switch and wires from when they built the estates!

Tuco88

meercat wrote: »

Not sure when Brown pvc/pvc was introduced but i don’t think a cpc was a regulation at switch points at the time.

You are right iirc, if the switches were contained in all pvc, a cpc was not required at the switch lighting point only.