Replacing a single dimmer switch connected to 2 lights

Hi,

I should start by saying that I'm a rank amateur that tries to tackle small electrical jobs at home, usually with the help of Youtube or this forum. 

I recently knocked and cracked the casing of a dimmer switch that has worked for 10+ years and it now needs replacing as it won't switch on.

When I took the plate off I saw the two live wires for the lights connected to L1 and L2 and the live wire for the plug socket connected to the terminal with the wavy x symbol.

The neutral and earth wires for the plug socket were twisted and wrapped in black electrical tape.

The earth wires for both lamps were also twisted and wrapped in tape and the same was done for the neutral wires for both lamps - see image.



This looked quite messy but I took a photo and made a note of the wiring connections so I could recreate it. I've just connected everything in the same way and the light won't come on. 

Does anyone know what could be the problem? Was the original wiring set up badly? I can't find anything on Youtube explaining how to connect two lights (with two sets of wiring) to one dimmer.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The way it was wired I would say only one light would be on at a time, and pressing the dimmer switch would switch between the two lights.

Does the new dimmer switch have the same labeling or is it L1, L2 and L3?

Could be the lamps have failed. Have you tried removing the dimmer from the circuit and joining the three browns together to double check that the lamps do still work?

Could be you now have incompatible dimmer & lights, e.g. LED's / low energy lamps, need different type of dimmer switch to traditional lamps.

Could be a faulty dimmer.

Could be the fuse in the plug-top has blown when the previous dimmer failed. have you proved you are getting correct power on your incoming wires?

Doc H.

ProDave said:

The way it was wired I would say only one light would be on at a time, and pressing the dimmer switch would switch between the two lights.

Does the new dimmer switch have the same labeling or is it L1, L2 and L3?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. 

Both lights have been working fine from the same single switch for 10+ years, until I knocked it.

Yes, the new dimmer I bought is a new equivalent with L1, L2 and the wavy x symbol.

Doc Hudson said:

Could be the lamps have failed. Have you tried removing the dimmer from the circuit and joining the three browns together to double check that the lamps do still work?

Could be you now have incompatible dimmer & lights, e.g. LED's / low energy lamps, need different type of dimmer switch to traditional lamps.

Could be a faulty dimmer.

Could be the fuse in the plug-top has blown when the previous dimmer failed. have you proved you are getting correct power on your incoming wires?

Doc H.

Click to expand...

The lamps are fine and both have new bulbs. I know this because they still worked occasional with the old dimmer but intermittently - I have to shuffle the casing around to get them to work so I assumed I had damaged the dimmer when I knocked the casing.

I'll take both dimmers to the electrical shop and double check that they are compatible.

As for checking I'm getting correct power, I'm not sure I have the means to do this. 

Thanks anyway.

It sounds to me that you had a loose connection in old dimmer hence the intermittent operation. 
did both lights dim before or only one?