Any sparkies on here? (Help!)

Trying to fit a dimmer switch in an old house, for some reason it's not working at all, the light literally won't come on when fitted.

The wiring is simply two red wires (L1 and L2) and an earth.
I've wired L1 to the L1 terminal on the dimmer and L2 to the L2 terminal, and tried wiring the earth both to the earth terminal on the back box, and also the earth terminal that is on the dimmer itself, but neither configuration works.

Does anyone know what the problem is?
Could it just be a case of old circuitry that won't work with a dimmer or am I missing something?

Is there a C terminal on the dimmer. If so one of the wires should go there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Canton68

Is there a C terminal on the dimmer. If so one of the wires should go there.

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There's a 3rd terminal with a symbol on it between the L1 and L2 terminals, but there's no 3rd wire to put in there, just the two red love wires.

Live* F'king autocorrect!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ninja

Trying to fit a dimmer switch in an old house, for some reason it's not working at all, the light literally won't come on when fitted.

The wiring is simply two red wires (L1 and L2) and an earth.
I've wired L1 to the L1 terminal on the dimmer and L2 to the L2 terminal, and tried wiring the earth both to the earth terminal on the back box, and also the earth terminal that is on the dimmer itself, but neither configuration works.

Does anyone know what the problem is?
Could it just be a case of old circuitry that won't work with a dimmer or am I missing something?

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Do the bulbs you are are using work with a dimmer? Not all LED bulbs do.

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Originally Posted by Blue Dwr

Do the bulbs you are are using work with a dimmer? Not all LED bulbs do.

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It's non-led, old school bulb so should work I believe.

Finally figured it out in case anyone else needs the help.
The middle terminal on the dimmer is "common", or the main live.
In my situation, I simply had to put one red wire into that, and one into the L1 terminal.
From what I understand, I don't think it even matters which one goes where when it's two red wires.
Having done that, and connected the earth cable to the earth terminal on the dimmer itself, it's now working lovely. :thumbup:

They are two red wires because it's the same cable - the switch 'breaks' it, to cut the connection and switch the light off.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tforturton

They are two red wires because it's the same cable - the switch 'breaks' it, to cut the connection and switch the light off.

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So I'm not going to sizzle my arse by putting them in the wrong terminals then?
As long as we're clear on that, I'm good :hehe:

Always remember, red to red, black to black, blue to bits.

The L1 and L2 are used when you have two switches for the same light e.g. on stairs with one switch at the bottom and one at the top. In this case you do have to get the correct wires in L1, L2 and C