Help with wiring 4 switches please.

noone

Ok, so I have these 4 switches I need to re-wire. Can someone draw some lines to fill in the blanks for me on this diagram?

Thanks so much.

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DannyT

are you using 4 switches to turn on the same fixture? if i remember right for 4 locations you need 2- 4ways and 2- 3 ways. power to one 3 way, fixture to the other 3 way. travelers from each 3 way to a 4 way and travelers between the 4 ways. the hot would go on the common screw on the 3 way and the fixture would go on the common on the other 3 way. i'm sure someone else will correct me if i am wrong. some places require a neutral in a switch box so check your local code.

noone

From left to right:

Switch 1 - 3 way switch = Other switch of 3 way circuit

Switch 2 = single pole switch to control power to fan on exhaust fan/light combo

Switch 3 = single pole switch to control power to light on exhaust fan/light combo

Switch 4 = single pole switch to control single can light

jbfan

From the power cable, connect the black to the bottom of all switches, except the 3 way, connect the black wire to the common screw.

Connect all white wires together.
At the 3 way, connect the black and red from the cable to either screw on the switch.

From the 3 wire cable, connect the black top of one switch, and the red to the top of another.

The last 14/2 cable, connect the black to the top of the last switch.

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Yes I am a Pirate, 200 years too late. "Jimmy Buffett"

noone

So there are actually 2 'power' wires. One 14/2 power wire, and one 14/2 wire that continues on to a power socket. So do I need to twist these blacks together along with 4 black 'feeder' wires that go to all 4 switches, or is there a slicker way to do this so i don't have to twist 6 wires together?

johnnystripes

I'm interested in this as well

AltaSparky

I've seen cases where when you have a 3 wire for a 3 way switch that the black of the 3 wire is the common and the white and red are travellers. hooking up the white of the 3 way could trip your circuit if you put it with the other whites and if you put it on the switch.. Ideally with 3 way switches you want to see how it was wired before or be prepared to use a meter to see how it is ran.

I would twist them together, but yeah it might be tricky if you don't know how. Make sure you size your wire nut appropriately. It will say on the box how many wires you can do min and max

noone

I think I could have notched out the insulation off a single black wire in 3 places and then attached that single wire across all 4 switches and that would have eliminated the need for all the runners.

But I didn't go through that hassle and just used 4 runners and it worked fine and everything fit into the box just fine. I just pre-twisted the 6 wires together with linesman pliers and then topped it off with a red. I also pre-twisted the whites and grounds together the same way and topped them with a red.

jbfan-

Thanks for the help. Everything worked perfectly. The first time.

jbfan

Did you take a ground wire to each switch?

Thanks for letting me know how it came out.

__________________
Yes I am a Pirate, 200 years too late. "Jimmy Buffett"

noone

No. I twisted all the grounds together in the box. Is this ok?

jbfan

If the switches have ground screws, they need to be connected.
Is the the boc plastic or metal?

__________________
Yes I am a Pirate, 200 years too late. "Jimmy Buffett"

noone

I don't think any of the switches had ground screws, ill have to check tonite when I get home. They are the rocker style switch that is plastic. The body of the switch appears to be black plastic. Not sure what 'boc' stands for....

jbfan

Box!!

__________________
Yes I am a Pirate, 200 years too late. "Jimmy Buffett"

noone

Haha!

Duh!

It's plastic. Blue Carlon.

jbfan

Since it is not metal, and if you for sure have no ground screws on any of the switches, you have done all you can do with the ground wires.

__________________
Yes I am a Pirate, 200 years too late. "Jimmy Buffett"