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i have a guest toilet with a vent and a light, and a very light and sound proof door. more often than not people leave the switch on, which can work for days. This is a single switch and simultaneously activates the vent and lightbulb, and the wires in the images are the only ones that I have available in the wall.

i purchased a switch with an indication light, but i tried several variations of cable connecting and i either get the indication light on constantly, off constantly or on when the light/vent is off.

This is the way it came from the store, and the way it is wired right now. enter image description here

I would really appriciate any guidance/help in making this work as intended

please also let me say that I found this question, but was unable to understand what to do, as I have TWO red wires, and the image in this post has two: Pilot light on switch comes on when light is off

Thank you very much

Giladiald
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    Did the switch come with any instructions? Is it possible that the light on the switch is for finding it in the dark, instead of on/off? – crip659 Feb 15 '22 at 17:25
  • Hey! No instruction. Do you mean like staircase lights? its possible, however there is also "On" and "Off" indication in wording, and the On is adjacent to the indication light - so it would make sense to me that that on = turned on = indication light is on. – Giladiald Feb 15 '22 at 17:27
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    What is the switch model? Many switches on this side of the pond have night lights when the switch is off they light, it sounds like you can adjust the wiring is this the case? – Ed Beal Feb 15 '22 at 18:39
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    if there a neutral available at the switch location? – ratchet freak Feb 15 '22 at 18:42
  • @ratchet freak Honestly, i am REALLY new to this, and i am not sure what a neutral means. i apologize for the ignorance – Giladiald Feb 15 '22 at 18:55
  • @Ed Beal,@ratchet freak I replaced the image in the post, incase that answers some of your questions – Giladiald Feb 15 '22 at 19:10
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    What is the brand and exact model number of your switch. The info that came on the packaging and should be included on the switch itself. With that info, you or someone here should be able to find the installation instructions which should explain exactly how it should be wired to do what you want, or that it cannot do what you want. – FreeMan Feb 15 '22 at 19:37
  • How many wires are accessible in the socket, and what country are you in? If this is Europe, the blue cable *should* be neutral and the brown one *should* be hot. It looks to me like you're missing a cable or two. Edit: I reread your post, and whoever did the electrical work did not to a good job. Using a blue line to transmit power is a big no – Dragongeek Feb 15 '22 at 19:37

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This is a "switch leg" which is why there is a blue (normally neutral) wire going to a switch. Switches don't use neutral.

Switches don't normally use power. They run on human power, and they only interrupt power to the light. So they only need 2 wires (always-live and "live when light should be on"), and have no need for neutral.

However, when a switch does something which requires power, such as be smart, or have an electronically run timer, or be lighted -- then, it needs power. Since it already has "always-live", it needs neutral. You don't have neutral. So anything that takes power at the switch isn't going to happen without a rewire. (no, you cannot use protective earth as neutral - I mean you can, but doing so can kill people. I'm glad you didn't discover that in your experiments).

Dump it. Get a mechanical timer switch.

This is a switch with a big clockwork mechanism. It takes some force to turn, but then, the run-down timer runs on that energy. So it is still a human-powered switch, with no electricity requirement, so no need for neutral.

They make different models of switch with different maximum run times - 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc. If the first one you see has an unworkable time, don't worry - they make others.

You can also get them with or without a "continuous hold" feature - where abuse or forgetfulness is an issue, you want "without".

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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  • This is a European setup, so the blue line should be neutral and the brown line should be hot. Ground would be green/yellow striped. – Dragongeek Feb 15 '22 at 19:36
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    @Dragongeek It's a "switch loop" or "switch leg" where blue is being used as one of the live wires. Switches don't need neutral. So anytime you see a blue on a plain switch, that's what is happening. *Wait, did you DV for that?* – Harper - Reinstate Monica Feb 15 '22 at 20:13
  • First off, thanks for the amazing answer Harper, however, this is israel and as far as i am aware it is ALWAYS Brown and blue to brown and black, or purple, i think i understood what you said about the wrong cable and i looked inside the wakk and there are some more options in there, will a picture help? – Giladiald Feb 15 '22 at 23:03
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    @Giladiald yes, photos of inside-the-box wiring are *always* helpful. – ThreePhaseEel Feb 16 '22 at 04:45