Two way lighting circuit gone wrong

[Tony Good]

Pat, thanks for your input, I think you are right that the feed to the second light is wrong somehow. I also think the switch wiring is wrong. With a clear head tomorrow morning I'll re-read all of your posts, have one last look (with the juice off) and if no joy then I'll call a spark. Thanks again for your most intelligent responses.

 

[Nickj]

Tony, feel free to post a picture of the switch wiring tomorrow. If it's a simple fix I'm sure someone will point it out.

Take serious care when investigating

 

[Tony Good]

Tony, feel free to post a picture of the switch wiring tomorrow. If it's a simple fix I'm sure someone will point it out.

Take serious care when investigating

Will do, cheers Nick

 

[sparksburnout]

and if no joy then I'll call a spark.

God help the poor B^^^^^d!!!

 

[Tony Good]

God help the poor B^^^^^d!!!

I don't believe in god but thanks for the sentiment. My father is alive and well.

 

[sparksburnout]

I don't believe in god but thanks for the sentiment. My father is alive and well.

I don't either, it was just a figure of speech. Funny how a lot of statements of exasperation can centre on religion! Oh for Christs sake!, Jesus!, For Gods sake....and so on. In fact it is sometimes hard to find one off the cuff that is not so inclined. Can you let us know what the unfortunate Electrician that gets that call uses for an utterance when the above is re-iterated to him upon his arrival?

 

[Tony Good]

I don't either, it was just a figure of speech. Funny how a lot of statements of exasperation can centre on religion! Oh for Christs sake!, Jesus!, For Gods sake....and so on. In fact it is sometimes hard to find one off the cuff that is not so inclined. Can you let us know what the unfortunate Electrician that gets that call uses for an utterance when the above is re-iterated to him upon his arrival?

Will do, hoping to return good news about nine wires...
Honestly, I'm humbled. As a software developer I'm used to dealing with complexity but this has me stumped, if I can get someone in who can say "I know!" my hat's off to them.

 

[Midwest]

Lights glowing when they are off, as has just been said by Snowhead!, indicates that the light is getting a supply from the neutral of another light so both lights in series gives a dim glow as they are at half voltage.

Wot these two chaps said. Don't start taking switches off and making the problem worse. You've just messed up the connections in the light, unless the person who put the light up originally did!
Employ an electrician, who will terminate the cables slightly better anyway.

 

[DPG]

I'm sure 'bigsparks' is actually Davesparks in disguise. The forum seems to be going the way it went ages ago, ie. downhill. Oh dear. Daz

 

[Darkwood]

Can we get back on track guys, I've deleted several posts relating to poor and dangerous advice given by a member, a PM will be sent regarding the post, can I please ask you again to report such posts as oppose to pulling the thread off topic and or lowering the tone with personal attacks on other members.

 

[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 .