Member's location is Italy.

Morning Forum i was wondering if someone could kindly help me which way around the cables go back in my switches. the plasterer removed to switches and now i cant figure out which way around the cables go. Each switch point has 3 cables by the way.

I have traced the cables as follows

switch one
1st cable goes to mains supply
2nd cable goes to the switch at the other end
3rd cable goes to the switch at the other end

switch two
1st cable goes to light fixture
2nd cable comes from the switch at the other end
3rd cable comes from the switch at the other end

the switches have the 3 wiring points
1
2
3

the drawing along side the switch is as follows

 

Welcome to the forums! First, terminology check. You say "cables". Cables are multiple wires encased in a covering, such as Non Metallic cable, commonly used for wire runs. "Wires" are individual covered strands of metal. If you have a single cable with 3 wires, you should have a white, red, and black (ground is given). On your switch, you will see a black, or andonized, off color screw other than brass. This screw will house either the LINE or LOAD of your set up. COMMONLY, the black wire will go to the black/andonized screw with the other two wires attached to the other two screws in any order.
Please clarify if you actually have 3 cables or one cable with 3 wires. You could even post a picture of each switch box, and that way we can see what you see. http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...your-post.html

 

Adr1976, welcome to the forums. We are always glad to help but this is primarily a North American board. We will probably not be able to give you specific help. Our terminology is often different. Even the term 2-way is not a term we use. I believe you mean what we call a 3-way, a light with switches in two different locations. Is that correct?

 

hi yes that is correct i have 2 light switches working a light in the hallway.

thanks

 

The three terminals (wiring points) on each of your 3-way (2-way in your terminology) switches are one point, or common, terminal, and two traveler terminals. Flipping the switch changes which traveler terminal the point terminal is connected to.

In your diagram, the point terminal could be terminal 2, switching between 1 and 3, or 3, switching between 1 and 2. Determining which is which is best done by using a multimeter to test for continuity between the terminals. Before doing that, though, look at the switches closely to see if one of the terminal screws is very dark - essentially black - and the other two are bright - usually brass - colored.

If so, the black terminal is the point terminal and the two bright terminals are the two traveler terminals.

Once you have determined which terminal is which, connect the wires this way:

At switch one, connect the hot (usually black) wire in the cable from the mains to the point terminal. Splice the neutral (usually white) wire in the cable from the mains to a white wire going to switch two. Connect two other wires to the two traveler terminals.

At switch two, connect the hot (usually black) wire in the cable from the light fixture to the point terminal. Splice the neutral (usually white) wire that you spliced to neutral at switch one to the neutral (usually white) wire in the cable from the light fixture. Connect two wires that you connected to the two traveler terminals on switch one to the two traveler terminals on switch two.