I have a 2way light switch for hall and landing lights. I am connecting a security light with a double switch and cannot get it working. I need to know witch wire goes in 1-way and where the other wire goes. I am using 3 core brown, blue and earth.

I assume,

A. That you are not USA.

B. That by 2-way you mean a double pole switch (what we in USA call a 3-way) and that you have another switch that also controls the hall and landing light.

Whether this can be done depends on how the existing wiring is done. If the power is coming into the switch where you want to add the switch for the security light, it can be done.

Connect the neutral coming into the box to the neutral going to the security light. Put a pigtail on the hot coming into the box and connect it to one terminal of the new switch. Connect the hot going to the security light to the other terminal.

If the power for the existing hall and landing light is going the light or to the other switch, it can't be done this way because you have no neutral at the switch. You will have to take power to the security light and then run a switch leg to the switch.

I have a 2way light switch for hall and landing lights. I am connecting a security light with a double switch and cannot get it working. I need to know witch wire goes in 1-way and where the other wire goes. I am using 3 core brown, blue and earth.


As the Dutchman said, "I speak English, yet....."

I'm not familiar with the terminology. In the US, we call a SPST switch a 2-way, and a SPDT switch a 3-way. A 2-way switch is used to control a circuit from one location, and a 3-way switch controls a circuit from two locations, such as top and bottom of a stairwell, or opposite ends of a hallway. Clear as mud.

If I remember correctly, the brown is the hot wire, and the blue is the grounded (neutral) wire, the grounding (earthing) conductor is either bare, or green with a yellow stripe?

So, to get on the same page, are the hall and landing lights controlled from one or two locations? You want to control the security light from one location, independent of the hallway and landing lights?

Semantics? That's in Ohio, isn't it? (James Thurber)