Switch wiring for the garage

[dunnah01]

Clues Please Dunnah01, I have wire I can add and the trunking can be opened up.

You need to try to emulate the switches on #26 ignoring the green earth wire. You need a 1 gang 2 way switch at either end with as many intermediate switches as you want - just one for 3 way switching.

 

[autorouter]

There's more than one way to do this, the details vary slightly. Here's one way, as in xsparks's diagram.

L1 on Left switch to L1 on Int switch, L2 on Left switch to L2 on Int switch.
L1 on Right switch to L3 on Int switch, L2 on Right switch to L4 on Int switch.
COM on Left switch to COM on Right switch.
Positive supply to L1 on Left switch.
Positive light terminal to L2 on Left switch.

That's all the positives, lastly run a negative wire to the negative light terminal.

 

[Hoovie]

I got stung/surprised by strip leds. I thought they were relatively low power and didn't check (stupid mistake on my part). I connected them to my regulated 3A supply and it overheated. I had 3 different LED strip lights in my self build van. 2 in the main area and one in the bathroom. If all 3 were on at the same time they would pull 6Amps. None of them were the full 5 Metre strips though.

I upgraded my 12v regulator.

This might be of interest? 3.75M of RGB Strip Light with a pair of Wifi controllers. Driven via Load Output of Victron 100/20 MPPT Controller (current reading is to nearest 0.1A)
Numbers are absolutes so take the Current minus the Baseline to see the Lights load.

Interestingly (to me, anyway), the Red, Green and Blue individually use the same power but they appear to have different levels of brilliance (using Eyeball Mk 1 as test equipment ). Guess it is just the way LED outputs work.

(Had Alexa Echos and Internet Router powered, hence the baseline noise as usage varies).

 

[Gromett]

nterestingly (to me, anyway), the Red, Green and Blue individually use the same power but they appear to have different levels of brilliance (using Eyeball Mk 1 as test equipment ). Guess it is just the way LED outputs work.

Nope It is a combination of the way your eye works and the way the LED works. With quite a lot of it being your eye.

The 3 colour diodes have different forward voltages so if you drive them the same voltage they will be different brightnesses.

However, the human eye is sensitive to different colours at different rates. We are most sensitive to green. So to make a white light the RGB LEDs have to shine at different intensities. This is mainly what you are seeing.
They are digitally controlled using a 1 byte value with a range of 0 - 255. So below full brightness they will all have different levels of output based on max value for white divided by a /255 value.

That is my understanding anyway.

 

[Blaydon]

There's more than one way to do this, the details vary slightly. Here's one way, as in xsparks's diagram.

L1 on Left switch to L1 on Int switch, L2 on Left switch to L2 on Int switch.
L1 on Right switch to L3 on Int switch, L2 on Right switch to L4 on Int switch.
COM on Left switch to COM on Right switch.
Positive supply to L1 on Left switch.
Positive light terminal to L2 on Left switch.

That's all the positives, lastly run a negative wire to the negative light terminal.

Hi again. Well I thought I would go back and try everything again, working through each switch, wire and connection. I used your clear description and the matching diagram. I have everything as you set out and still the centre switch overrides the outer two. Could there be a faulty switch somewhere?
I am at a loss as to where to go next?
D

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[autorouter]

In theory there are two different ways to label the switch terminals L1 to L4. I looked at a couple of examples online, and based the instructions on that. If your intermediate switch is labelled the other way, it would work as you are finding, ie OK in one position, and cut off in the other position.

If you swap the intermediate switch L2 and L3 wires in the instructions, maybe that will get it working.

 

[xsparks]

This is the simplest form of this wiring.

 

[Gromett]

This is the simplest form of this wiring. View attachment 755917

That is how I was taught. The one listed prior seemed more complicated and messy to me.

 

[xsparks]

This way can be more convenient in some cases.

 

[xsparks]

Hi again. Well I thought I would go back and try everything again, working through each switch, wire and connection. I used your clear description and the matching diagram. I have everything as you set out and still the centre switch overrides the outer two. Could there be a faulty switch somewhere?
I am at a loss as to where to go next?
D

It's important not to mix the strappers with the wire between the two 2 way switches. It may be easier to understand looking at my drawings.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Blaydon]

Hi all. Yet another lesson learned. I had to go back to B&Q for something else so decided to buy another intermediate switch. I wanted to open the packet so spoke to a guy from the staff, who knew what he was doing(!) and he said “Oh yeah, we have had a few problems with these, it seems some of them (the ones I firs bought) have been miss packaged.“
Gee thanks!
So I put in the new intermediate switch and……..
It all works.

Thanks to everyone who had offered advice and tips. It is good to know that there are folks who can offer help.
Costs.
The LED strip, £10 from Ebay
Trunking, about £12
Switches, about £12

well worth it once it is working

Cheers
D