DIYbanter - View Single Post - Wiring a two-way dimmer switch

On 13 Oct 2004 wrote:

Can anyone advise me if it is possible to wire up a two-way circuit
with a plate two way light switch and a push on/off, rotary two way
dimmer, so that either is able to turn off the light.

I don't see why not. The actual dimmer circuit should be connected to
the common pole of the changeover switch. Are you sure the switch
linked to the dimmer is two-way, not on/off?

At the moment whichever switch turns on the light is the only one that
can switch it off.

Which means that you've effectively got two on/off switches in
parallel.

The dimmer can always dim the light, regardless of how it was switched
on.

I can't see immediately how this works but there must be a wiring error.

Is it possible to have either switch able to switch off the light,
even if it didn't switch it on?

That's how it should work.

The dimmer is at the 'remote' end of the circuit at the moment - in
other words it only has the red/yellow/blue cable going to it.
Does it need to be at the 'feed' end?

No. If you look at the diagram below you'll see that it doesn't matter
which end the supply goes to.

what terminals, do I need to put which cables in, on which switch?
I have tried various combinations to no avail :-(

(red) L1 L1
Supply=====O==================================O red
---O===================O--wwww--O--- yellow
Load=======O==================================O blue
(black) L2 C C L2
Plate switch dimmer push switch

It doesn't matter if L1 and L2 are interchanged. The important thing is
that the two common (C) terminals are connected to each other and
nothing else.

--
Richard Porter
Mail to username ricp at domain minijem.plus.com
"You can't have Windows without pains."