Hello. DIYer here - trying to do better than the last guy!

Ro0bArB · Nov 22, 2020

Hello to all,

I've been browsing through the forums here but still not sure where this goes... hopefully someone can point me in the right direction?

I've found a few horrors in the new (80's) house but this one is a mystery. The front room has two ceiling lights and this lightswitch.

There are also three wall lights that are controlled only by switches on them (independent, with no other switches and only one black, one red wire supplying each). The ceiling lights are separate circuits and switched by the inner two of the above switches. The outer switches don't seem to do anything. When I removed the faceplate for decorating I found this...

The outer left switch doesn't have a complete circuit. The outer right is live but I can't find what it is connected to. Any suggestions to investigate would be welcome. Also, how could I safely blank off the yellow and blue wires to leave only two switches? I can't find anything in the house that works/doesn't/changes when the blue circuit is open or closed!

Thanks in advance.

littlespark · Nov 22, 2020

only 3 of those switches are receiving power... and the switch lines go out on the yellow, black, single red and blue respectively. You notice that this particular switch, the 2nd and 4th are upside down. Thats just the way they're made

80's house, possibly a joint box somewhere... top of the landing? Or the circuits loop in at the ceiling roses.

If you are absolutely sure those switches dont turn anything on, you can disconnect them, terminate them safely into a connector and leave them in the back of the box.
I would have thought one of them did the wall lights? or a separate switch for each of the ceiling lights.
Have you maybe got 5A round pin sockets in the room that may come live through one of these switches, or an outside light?

Unusual for a 4 gang switch to be there for no reason. The box used is a 2 gang, where you only need a 1 gang box for a 1,2 or 3 gang switch.

Dustydazzler · Nov 22, 2020

If it were my house I would be disconnecting things are see what turns off...you might only need a 3 gang switch

Ro0bArB · Nov 29, 2020

Thanks for the replies,

I have tried disconnecting each loop and there's nothing in the 2 gang box that has any effect on the wall lights. The ceiling lights are definitely independent of eachother. All the sockets are on a different breaker at the fuse box.

If the blue and yellow circuits are disused, would I be able to find the wires behind the ceiling roses? Any suggestions on how to test and terminate the blue/yellow safely would be welcome.

littlespark · Nov 29, 2020

The blue and yellow are in the same cable as one of the reds. What does it control?
The blue and yellow will be at the same point, unless they stop further back, in a joint box and the red is jointed and runs through to a light from there.

The spare cables that dont seem to go anywhere can be terminated into single connections, wagos or connector block and left in the back of the switch box. Dont cut them short, just in case you find out what they do.

I still find it strange that a 2 gang box was cut out for a 4 gang switch when it wasnt needed??

Mike Johnson · Nov 29, 2020

The plaster around this switch looks new, has the wall been newly plastered and the switch taken off to do it?

Ro0bArB · Dec 9, 2020

Hi all,

Thanks for the advice and suggestions. I can't find how to post pictures again but I have fitted a new faceplate and modular switches.

I took the first photos while I was stripping wallpaper and decorating. Still can't find out what the blue and yellow wires control so they are blanked off in 32A blocks. As a bonus, I put a couple of magnets behind the faceplate to hold a hue switch in between the two modular switches and kept the 2 gang box.

Thanks again.

R