My new house

[davesparks]

I have just moved house into a lovely little mid terrace rented property, but the electrics are a bit odd in places.
So I thought to myself I had better go onto the forum and post up my problems.
But since I have a pretty good idea of the answer already, I thought I'd post in here for the trainees to have a go at advising me on what to do to find and fix the fault, or give ideas as to what it is.
I will answer any questions you have and post up the results of any test you would like me to carry out.

The first problem is with the two way switching for the stairs.
There is a light, a switch at the bottom of the stairs (A) and a switch at the top of the stairs (B). I operate the switches in the following order
1- A - light on
2- A - light off
3- B - light on
4- B - light off
5- A - light on
6- B - no change
7- A - light off
8- B - light on
9- A - light on
10-B - light off
11-A - no change
12-B - light off


So what's going on?


Once I've got the energy monitors set up I'll give you all the info to do a max demand and diversity etc calculations and see if you can get an accurate answer.

 

[Leesparkykent]

I think you need an electrician.....you shouldn't be dabbling if you don't know what your doing:smilielol5:

 

[davesparks]

I'm waiting for the blasted Lettings agent to give me the OK to touch the electrics and fix the issues. I'd thought they'd jump at the chance of having the work done free!

 

[Simonslimline]

Edit.... gonna rethink that.

 

[Richard Burns]

So what's going on?

Your light switching is not working right!

 

[hightower]

Having a think about this now - answers on here or PM so as not to give the game away for others?

 

[hightower]

1- A - light on
2- A - light off
3- B - light on
4- B - light off
5- A - light on
6- B - no change
7- A - light off
8- B - light on
9- A - light on
10-B - light off
11-A - no change
12-B - light off

I'm a bit lost off here - state 6 is with both switches on, so state 7 you flick switch A off which leaves switch B in the on position only, and as far as I can see this is the same state as state 3 (both state 3 and 7 have switch A off and switch B on) but there's a different output. Is this correct or am I reading the sequence incorrectly?

The first thought I had when I saw this question was that one of the strappers is connected up wrong, but I've drawn it out every way I can think of it and I get hung up at state 7 - head is doing somersaults thinking how state 7 can be the same as 3 but with a different output. I've even drawn a few circuits with an intermediate switch to see if that results, but getting stuck at state 7 again.

 

[hightower]

Ok, this is really battering my head now - surely with 2 switches there's only four possible states:

A & B Off (Which results in light OFF I think judging from states 2 and 4)
A & B On (Which results in light ON I think from state 6)
A On B Off (Which results in light ON according to state 1)
A Off B On (Which results in light ON according to state 3, although state 7 says the light is OFF)

What am I missing here?

 

[rolyberkin]

Someone has used an intermediate switch on the upstairs using 2 x L1 and 1 x L2 connections, I think

 

[hightower]

Someone has used an intermediate switch on the upstairs using 2 x L1 and 1 x L2 connections, I think

I've tried that roly, but it doesn't line up with the sequence still. It gets to state 7 where you turn switch A off again and according to the OP the light is OFF but with an intermediate the light would still be ON.

 

[davesparks]

It is entirely possible that I've made a typo in this, I am very sorry if I have. I'll double check it later on

 

[hightower]

Thanks Dave, you've had my head in knots all morning (Davesparks with an error, nah, it must be me being a thicko!).

Like I said earlier, I'm thinking one of the strappers wired incorrectly or possibly an intermediate switch used. Will revisit when you get chance to have a look.

 

[rolyberkin]

Thanks Dave, you've had my head in knots all morning (Davesparks with an error, nah, it must be me being a thicko!).

Like I said earlier, I'm thinking one of the strappers wired incorrectly or possibly an intermediate switch used. Will revisit when you get chance to have a look.

Intermediate switch, I just assumed there was a typo!

 

[davesparks]

I hadn't even considered the possibility of an intermediate switch, I'll have to think about that and see if that would replicate the symptoms.

 

[Baker1988]

Seems to me that it is not wired correctly, would help if we could see the wiring in the back of the switches, but on the assumption that all the cables that are needed are present i would just say it is not wired correctly and the permanent live is probably in the common instead of the L1 or the strappers are mixed up. like i say would need to see the wiring.