Two way lighting circuit gone wrong

[Tony Good]

I'm hoping to get a bit of expert advice on a problem I have with a friend's wiring. Initially I was asked to take a look at a three-bulb light fitting that was regularly blowing bulbs. I took the fitting down from the ceiling to check for loose wires and found that several came out from the connectors on gentle manipulation.

I re-prepared the free wire ends (they looked a bit damaged) and inserted them back to where it looked like they came from, disconnected the fitting and checked and cleaned the bulb sockets, looked like some arcing was going on arond the bulb thread.

What's most bizarre on reconnection of the fitting though is when the light is OFF the bulbs glow dimly and when it's switched ON they glow normally. It's part of a two ceiling fitting and two way switch circuit with ordinary 40w filament bulbs.

Looking at the back of the wall switch it looks like the two circuits are crossed between the switches - I just can't understand why it was wired like this and wondered if it sounds like a familiar, albeit odd, setup to anybody?

Would welcome any sensible input _thanks all.

 

[Tony Good]

That wiring does sound odd. But there is no way to end up with the lights in series (as must be happening to have them glow dim) unless one of the lights isn't connected probably to neutral. if both lights have one side connected to neutral then they work or they don't (or it goes bang) so my guess is the feed to the second light is wrong.

Pat, thank you very much for your inspiring reply - it turned a light on, literally.
I went through exactly what you said, getting each stage right and now it all works perfectly. Still not sure quite what went wrong but pulling everything apart and testing it all before re-assembly made total sense.
Thanks everyone else who helped also - it can be a very daunting time to get involved with someone else's electrics, next time I'll steer clear
Cheers all - Tony.

 

[DPG]

Glad to hear all is working. Daz

 

[Darkwood]

Im going to put this thread to bed now as it has run its course and cannot go any further, OP has resolved his issue with the members help and more importantly has learned not to dabble in such tasks in the future, a wise conclusion to his experience .