Not Good practice I know but

[lofty84]

I changed my parents consumer unit to a new 17th eddition MK one a little while ago. Everything went well and when I turned it all back on there was no problems with any of the rcd tripping so it looked like everything was good and I knew what Iw as doing. Today though I was just being nosey and trying to work out this 2 way lighting mylarkey as its always confussed me so much so I always let someone else do it while I did something else. well anyway I turn of the mcb which I running the downstairs lights and on the right hand side rcd. the upstairs is on the left as you do. well having turned it off and watching the lights go out I set about undoing everything (taking a picture of it before of course) to see if I could work it all out (which I couldnt) and low and behold I got a bloddy shock. Im gonna sound a right cowboy but most of my tools are in my buddys van so I didnt have me voltage/continuity tester to double check and just plouged in as the lights had gone of but as I say I got a shock. Im thinking there must have been a borrowed neautral or something from the lights upstairs somewhere but Im not sure. I didnt want to turn the upstairs light breaker of and then touch it again to find out and obviously I didnt have my tester to see, so I just turnt everything of at the main switch terminated everything back together as per the photo and turned it back on where it all works as before.

Any ideas what is going on and am I right about it being down to a shared neautral somewhere. I will set about finding it if it is but I wont be that till i buy a mft

cheers

 

[snowhead]

Teach youself how to, today-- 2Way circuits, including inters;

Shopping (scavenging) list;

Piece of plywood
A couple of 2 way switches
A couple of intermediate switches.
A couple 2 gang 2 way switches
Suitable back boxes.
Couple of battern lampholders and lamps.
A few scraps of T&E
A few scraps of 3 core & E
RCD protected socket and 13amp plug with 3amp fuse.

TEST EQUIPMENT

Teach yourself starts here, work out what the above is for then use it.

 

[lofty84]

I live in Frimley trev

 

[trev]

I live in Frimley trev

If you'd been close I'd have come and bailed you out, maybe someone else will offer

 

[lofty84]

cheers trev I think I need to do what snowball suggested and go and buy all those things. Has anyone got any idea how much it would cost

 

[trev]

Except for the test gear you'll get change from £30. The cables don't have to be very long. You could try drawing a circuit diagram though.

 

[Edd]

Sry Lofty, If I was close I would help you out.
But really, you would happerly change a CU but cant under stand 2 way or why you gold a belt!
I think you may need to go back to the basics, and stay away from things till you understand.
This was one of the reasons Part Pi ss was introduced, dont seem to work though..

 

[lofty84]

Lofty84

Start at the begining. What does this 2g switch in the dining room do? Which light does each side of the switch operate?

Sorry Tony I missed this thanks for showing an interest. This is what happened mate

Basically I start a new job on Monday Im not sure how I got it but I did, so having had to go back into a office I thought I would try and work out this 2 way lighting mylarkey but half an hour later and after fraing what I saw in the switch at the bottom of the stairs and the top I decide I would move on.

As I say having got no where with that I thought Id have a look at the lighting in the dinning room.

In the dinning room there is two lights one on the left and one on the right really. when i flick the left switch the left light came on and when I flicked the right switch the right hand light turned on. right I thought I know what Ill do Ill rewire this so that when you flick the left switch the right hand light came on and when you flicked the rights hand switch the left light came on. I dont know why I wanted to do this maybee a bit of a confidence booster which sounds silly but I wanted to do it anyway.

so with both ligths switched on I went back the the board and flicked of the breaker which does the downstairs lighting and off they turnt. excellent. so i pull out my screwdriver and undo the 2 screws and set about undoing the termiations. out comes the cable in the left whcih had the red (live) going into the common and black (neautral aka switchline) I know that correct but confirmation would be good going into the 1 way hole, there is also a hole with 2 way above it but this has been left emty. I do the same for the right hand side and it is wired exactly the same as the left. anyway as i go to rewire it and touch the live cable (not sure which one) I got a shock

- - - Updated - - -


Start at the begining. What does this 2g switch in the dining room do? Which light does each side of the switch operate?[/QUOTE]


Sorry Tony I missed this thanks for showing an interest. This is what happened mate

Basically I start a new job on Monday Im not sure how I got it but I did, so having had to go back into a office I thought I would try and work out this 2 way lighting mylarkey but half an hour later and after fraing what I saw in the switch at the bottom of the stairs and the top I decide I would move on.

As I say having got no where with that I thought Id have a look at the lighting in the dinning room.

In the dinning room there is two lights one on the left and one on the right really. when i flick the left switch the left light came on and when I flicked the right switch the right hand light turned on. right I thought I know what Ill do Ill rewire this so that when you flick the left switch the right hand light came on and when you flicked the rights hand switch the left light came on. I dont know why I wanted to do this maybee a bit of a confidence booster which sounds silly but I wanted to do it anyway.

so with both ligths switched on I went back the the board and flicked of the breaker which does the downstairs lighting and off they turnt. excellent. so i pull out my screwdriver and undo the 2 screws and set about undoing the termiations. out comes the cable in the left whcih had the red (live) going into the common and black (neautral aka switchline) I know that correct but confirmation would be good going into the 1 way hole, there is also a hole with 2 way above it but this has been left emty. I do the same for the right hand side and it is wired exactly the same as the left. anyway as i go to rewire it and touch the live cable (not sure which one) I got a shock

 

[telectrix]

where on god's earth is frimley?

 

[lofty84]

cheers edd

- - - Updated - - -

its in surrey near guildford well 15 mins or so away

 

[lofty84]

chees edd

 

[RyanCheetham]

Try using this diagram when building your setup

 

[Silly Sausage]

where on god's earth is frimley?

Nearby...

 

[trev]

It sounds like you have 2 circuits at the dining room, if you really must do this knock everything off and swap the switches over. A word to the wise though, if my son did this he'd be invited to an --- kicking party, also remember you have no way of proving earth continuity on anything you're doing so ask yourself is it wise to do it.

 

[Andy78]

Try using this diagram when building your setup

I'm not sure that will be much help to him if he is using twin and earth cable

 

[RyanCheetham]

Try using this diagram when building your setup

I'm not sure that will be much help to him if he is using twin and earth cable

Sorry i meant when he was building his learning rig as suggested using 3core

 

[Silly Sausage]

I'm not sure that will be much help to him if he is using twin and earth cable

Eh?
Nowt wrong with that.


Need some brown sleeving.

 

[Andy78]

Eh?
Nowt wrong with that.


Need some brown sleeving.

That's the sort of diagram i would expect to see if using singles in conduit. If using t+e and 3 core, I would generally have the feed and switch wire at the same switch, that's all I meant.

 

[lofty84]

how big do you think the board will need to be if I built what snowball sugessted
and whats the 13am rcd protected socket for

 

[Silly Sausage]

That's the sort of diagram i would expect to see if using singles in conduit. If using t+e and 3 core, I would generally have the feed and switch wire at the same switch, that's all I meant.

Aye, see what you mean. I usually do the 3 core way.
He'll have to get some 3 core now!

 

[trev]

how big do you think the board will need to be if I built what snowball sugessted
and whats the 13am rcd protected socket for

It doesn't have to be massive, the socket is to power the rig. Rather than going to any huge expense though draw a simple lighting circuit, one feed one light one switch. Then draw an extra terminal on the switch to make it a 2 way and another 2 way switch, then with coloured pens draw how you're going to connect them and make it work using 3 core cable.
When you've drawn that out and understood it turn the page over and you're going to draw out exactly the same but adding an intermediate. The connections are shown in Ryan's sketch above.
When you've got all that straight then build your rig.