2 switches , one light problem - DIY Chatroom

pepperthecat · 07-08-2008, 12:55 PM

Hello,

My wife and I just bought a 20 year old house. We are having a problem with the hall light. When we turn the light on at the top of the stairs and then go down and turn it off at the bottom, the bottom switch does not work. The switch does however work if we did not use the one at the top of the stairs. We also have the same problem with our kitchen as we have 2 entries and one light. They just don't seem to work the way we need them to. Any ideas ? Could it be a switch or wiring problem ?

Thanks you for your time, Ric

joed · 07-08-2008, 04:47 PM

The wrong wrie is on the common screw of one or both of the three way switches. If you can tell us which wires from which cables are connected to which screws on the switches we can probably help you figure this out.

DO NOT tell us upper left, lower right etc. That means nothing. The common screw will be black or marked common.

Here are a bunch of three way wiring schemes. There are several different ways to do it. All of them are correct.

http://www.selfhelpandmore.com/switch-outlet/3-way/

pepperthecat · 07-08-2008, 05:57 PM

Hey Joed,

Thanks for the info, I'll check things out when I get home tonight

Ric