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

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.

Yes, cos U have half a dozen wired that way.

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

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

That is inescapable.

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

Yes.

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?

Makes no difference.

Your incoming live should probably go to the changeover contact of the
simple switch.

Each other contact of the simple switch should go via the three way
cable to the same contacts on the dimmer/switch.

The changeover contact on the dimmer switch then goes into one side of
the dimmer, and the other is now switched dimmable live.

Whether you take the live feed back to the first switch and feed the
lamp(s) from there or have carried the neutral along the third wire to
the dimmer, and run the lamp(s) from that, is a matter of personal taste
and your wiring layout.

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

You haven't tried the right one.

Leaving the dimmer aside. you have three terminals on each switch.
Incoming live goes into the changeover contact, the two other contacts
are connected to the same contacts on the remote switch, and the
switched live is taken from ITS changeover contact.

The switched live simply then goes through the dimmer to form a dimmable
switched live.

The last bit of the three way cable carries either this switched
dimmable live back to the incoming, or the neutral to the remote switch,
depending where the lamp feed comes in.

Many thanks for any advice.

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