Replacing Dimmer Switch that has 3 black wires

garyskeepers

hi all.

I’m trying to replace a dimmer switch that has stopped working.

I took off the panel and there was 3 similar wires. One was connected and it looked like the other two were not, but they were wrapped around each other.

As they are not different colours , how do I tell where they go???

JustJoe7240

The two twisted together more than likely the switch feed and a cable bringing the power to the next switch. While the other is most likely the switch wire going to the light fitting.

Please be aware unless youve isolated at the distribution board, there should be live power at the back of the switch.

10-10-20

These are "singles" - wires with only one core in them but wrapped in double insulation. The indication as to their polarity is the inner insulation and in this case I think we can see red or brown:

Treppen

Is there much of an issue replacing a dimmer with regular on off?

garyskeepers

ah. Let me see if I understand this. 

Of course, I switched off the power by flicking the trip switch in the main panel. 

I should be able to strip back the double insulation a bit showing the colours? Ie. Brown, blue, green? 

Once done. In the dimmer, are we saying that the two wires wrapped together should be in the L1 or L2 hole, and they have slipped out? 

10-10-20

Maybe I confused you slightly - I was just pointing out that the singles will have coloured internal insulation - in the case of a dimmer - that's not going to tell you much as the dimmer is likely on the live side so all inner insulation will be red or brown (depending on how old the wiring is) - indicating live in or live out.

What you need to do is look and see whether the broken wire was actually connected to the dimmer or not as that's critical to understanding whether it needs to be in-circuit or not. Look for the position of where it might have broken out of and then tell us how it's all connected back there. It's likely that it just needs to fit back in to position for the whole circuit to function again.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122880621#Comment_122880621

Yes that's it, just pop them back in, tighten up and it should be fine

garyskeepers

Ok. Thanks folks.

So I'll do this.

1. Change the lightbulb so im sure that's not the issue.

2. Put the two wires that are entwined into the L1 Connection and check.

3. If point 2 fails. Put the wires into L2 and check.

I'll come to one of two conclusions.

A. The dimmer switch is working again

B the dimmer switch is not working.

Pending the result of this, I will need to change the dimmer switch to a 'normal' on/off switch,. This is where the hard stuff comes in?

How do I decipher the wires and wire them up to a regular socket. And i will have to post a picture of the back of the new socket here.