3 way switch problem

Rschrei518

I wanted to put cfls in my kitchen but i had a dimmer on the lights i had to remove. It is a 3 way switch. I removed the dimmer put in a 3 way rocker switch. The problem is that one switch dosn't work in less the other switch is already on. The way it was before one side of the 3 way was a dimmer and the other was a rocker switch. The way the rocker switch was wired was there was a red wire on the left side where the ground goes and on the other side was the two black wires. Where the dimmer was the wires come out of the dimmer the red wire went to the wire that is at the end of the back of the dimmer by itself and the black wires went to the wires that were togather.

Right now i have the red wire on both ends on the side of the ground under the brass screw and the black on the other side. What am i doing wrong any ideas?

AllanJ

The screws on a 3 way switch are named traveler, traveler, common, and ground. You need to connect the wire that used to be on the dimmer common screw or wire to the rocker switch common screw. The common screw is usually darker colored. If the wires to the two traveler screws are reversed, that causes no problem. Sometimes there is no ground screw which should be green colored in which case a ground wire should be fastened securely against the switch's metal bracket where it is screwed onto the box in the wall.

The locations of the screws vary from one switch to another so matching up left or end or bottom is not always the correct way to connect things.

Rschrei518

I reversed the two black wires and it is all fixed thanks again