With the increase in living space, especially for private houses, it became necessary to control lighting from several places. If it is necessary to control one light bulb, then it is enough to install a one-button switch. The connection diagram of a two-key pass-through switch will allow you to control several lamps. Sometimes they are called duplicate or crossover.
Content
- One-key device device
- Popular models
- Wiring diagram for two switches
- Lighting control from three locations
- The use of a two-key mechanism
One-key device device
Outwardly, such a mechanism practically does not differ from simple switches. If we are talking about the front side, then the single-key pass-through switches have two arrows on the switch button.
The main difference is the greater number of contacts. In conventional devices, there are only two of them, and the one-key mechanism has three of them, and a couple of them are common. If for a standard switch one position is working, and the second is not, then in the through-switch both positions are valid, therefore, correctly they should be called switches, that is, they do not turn on and off, but switch the input from one output to another. So they have both working positions. There are no other switch positions.
On high-quality factory devices, there is always a diagram by which you can determine what kind of mechanism it is: simple or through. If there is no circuit, then you should pay attention to the number of copper contacts: there should be three. Usually there is one contact on one side of the switch and two on the other. By the way, one terminal does not mean that this is an input, they are often confused. Then you need to ring the tester and find common contacts at different positions of the switch.
Otherwise, it will not work and may burn out. The process of determining the input is carried out as follows: the tester is set in the short-circuit position and the two terminals are connected with the probes. The arrow of the device should deviate all the way to the right.
Leaving the probes in place, they change the position of the key, if the arrow does not deviate, then one of the two terminals is common. Then you should determine which one. To do this, move one probe to the third terminal without touching the key. If the arrow has moved, then the terminal from which the probe was not removed will be the input.
Popular models
Currently, there is a fairly wide selection of pass-through switches. The brands of European manufacturers are especially popular. These include the following models:
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ABB Basic 5S is a Swedish-Swiss company that manufactures products for the automation of power devices. Switches of this brand have silver-plated contacts. The service life of the products is 15 years. - Legran Valena is a French company specializing in the production of two- and three-key pass-through switches. The products are made of polycarbonate and feature increased safety.
- Viko Carmen is a popular Turkish company, mostly known in the post-Soviet countries. The manufactured products are quite reliable and affordable.
In addition, another French company, Schneider Electric, is popular. Its products have a good balance between cost and quality.
Wiring diagram for two switches
The simplest is the connection diagram of the pass-through switch from two places. Most often, this process is carried out when organizing lighting on the stairs leading from the first to the second floor. And also this method is suitable for a long corridor, a large walk-through room or bedroom, when one switch is at the entrance, and the second can be connected next to the bed.
Such a scheme for connecting a switch from two places works quite simply. A neutral wire is connected to the lamp, and voltage is applied to the input of one of the switches. A lamp is connected to the input of the second mechanism.
The outputs of both switches are interconnected. The luminaire is currently on, the next time you turn on or off any device, it will be on or in an inoperative state.
Lighting control from three locations
Very often, at longer distances, the three-switch version is used. This requires the use of additional equipment. Structurally, they differ in two contacts that go to the input and output.
The circuit looks a little more complicated, but the operation of the switches remains exactly the same. For this, the following activities are carried out:
- The neutral wire is also connected to the light source.
- The phase wire is connected to the input of one of the switches.
- A wire is connected from the lamp to the input of the second pass-through switch.
- The two output wires from both feedthroughs are connected to a crossover mechanism.
By the same principle, you can make a circuit with 4 or more switches. In this case, there will still be pass-through devices at the edges, and the rest of the elements are placed between them.
The use of a two-key mechanism
To control two lamps, pass-through switches are connected according to a 2-point scheme. There are 2-key switches for this. Their design implies the use of six terminals, of which the common ones should be determined.
You can find them according to the same principle as in three-pin devices. When using two-key devices in the circuit, the number of wires is increased to use all the terminals.
The phase wire goes to the inputs of both switches. It is marked in red on the diagram. The other terminals are connected from devices to each light bulb. The free ends of the luminaires are connected to the neutral wire, and the two outputs of the switches are connected to each other.
This installation provides convenient lighting control in fairly large rooms. It is possible to organize this control of two luminaires from three or more points. For this, additional cross switches are purchased.
In this case, each pair from a two-key pass-through switch is connected to two terminals of each crossover device. The process itself is pretty simple., but due to the large number of wires, this method is used much less often.
