Hello all. I decided i would change all of the light switches and power sockets in my house as the previous owners ended painting all over them and they looked a mess. Changed the the second floor light switches and everything is good. Started on the 1st floor and stopped half way to run some errand. Came back and finished but now the lights do not work at all on the 1st floor and one room on the 2nd floor. The ground floor lights are fine. Is it likely I’ve wired something wrong? I’m fairly certain I put the wires in the their equivalent hole on the new switch.
Are all 3 floors on the same lighting circuit ? Show us a pic of the wiring of the first switch that you worked on at 1st floor . Do you have any voltage testing instruments ?
Each floor is on a separate breaker. Thought one had tripped but they were fine. I only have a voltage tester pen from Screwfix. I’ve attached a pic of the first switched I changed over (but all were changed). Oddly, one of the light switches, which was a dimmer switch, had two connections, one going in to L1 and the other in to L2 :-s
The picture you show does not have the face plate earthed. If the new switches are metal, you need to terminate the earth wires in the face plates and then put a link from face plate to the back box.
Thanks for the replies. The face plates for the light switches are plastic. 1x red in each COM. Switch for 1st floor landing: L1 1x red 1x blue L2 2x red 1x yellow Switch for 2nd floor landing: L1 1x blue L2 1x yellow
What is it doing that it shouldnt. It's a 2 way switch so in the other switch (at the other side of the corridor or wherever it is) there will probably be a 3 core, make sure the colours are in the same terminals as this switch. If that makes sense.
With circuit breakers OFF for all lighting circuits except the first floor which should be ON, is your voltage stick showing voltage present at any first floor switch ?
Yeah, it is a two way switch. The left switch operates the 1st floor landing light and the right side switch operates the 2nd floor landing light. 2nd floor landing light is working fine from the 1st floor switch or the 2nd floor single switch. I've added a pic of the 2nd floor landing switch and it appears everything is in the same positions.
If only one room on second floor has its light not working ,that's not going to be associated to no First floor lighting working at all. You need to establish voltages present.
Problem solved. Thanks for all the help, you guys are great! Turns out it was the wiring which had been done by the previous owner (I've only just moved in). It was the dimmer switch wiring. Put those in the correct terminals and all the lights are working. An extra thanks to FlyByNight for the info regarding earthing the boxes. I will be getting a safety cert check on the property in just over two weeks once other works are finished for some peace of mind. Thanks again.