i'm replacing 2 3 way switches that both control two hallway lights. the old switches are very outdated, but i'm having a problem with the new ones.
i can get them both hooked up to turn on/off the lights, but when one switch is off, the other won't work. i don't know what's going on.
in the first box the black wire is the hot, which i attach to the common. then the red and white are travelers and w/out power.
in the second box, the black has no power, and the red and white are powered.
i've tried every combination on the 2nd box and can't get it to work correctly. the old switches weren't grounded to the box. could it be something w/the new switches?
Separate all 3 wires from each switch, find the only hot wire. Between the 2 switches only one will be hot if wired correctly.Put that hot wire on the common. If using Decora style switch, look very closely for the common, it fools many!
In the same switch box put the remaining 2 wires on the remaining screws on the 3 way.
At the other switch location - wires sticking out of box -only one wire will now be hot,that will be a traveller. At the previous switch turn the switch to the opposite postion. A different wire will be hot back at the other switch location, this is the second traveller. The remaining wire in the switch box will be your common.
If using an inductive type tester that may be giving you a false reading, test hot to ground if possible. Good Luck!
thanks uncleduey, i believe i can follow your steps.
although, when both switches are off of the box altogether, and the wires are sticking out of the box and the power is on, box 1 has 1 hot wire. box 2 has 2 hot wires. i thought box 2 would be dead until getting power from box 1?
It should be be. What are you using to test for power? A digital meter? It could be a false reading. Did you disconnect the neutral from the feed line as well?
no, i'm not using a meter. i used on of those indicators that beeps when there is electricity nearby. i put it on the lowest setting and touched all 3 wires. in the 2nd box, 2 wires beeped indicating they were hot. in the 1st box, 1 wire beeped indicating hot.
You guys who know this stuff flat-out amaze me. :laughing:
Electricity has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I've learned to do the basics, and I can figure out some of the more complex things pretty well given a good book and a lot of patience, but it's never come natural.
you are using the wrong type of tester those voltage "detectors" are only made to sense the magnetic field from AC current, they will usually beep if any wires in the box are hot and sometimes from a voltage imbalance on the neutral wire. Which means the wires you think are hot are not. You need to use a "contact" type tester and touch one lead to a wire and the other lead to ground (or neutral)
Be careful, you could have done the same thing with the power off using a continuity tester to find whih wires are travellers, leaving the commons as the last to hook up.
Please describe the wiring in each switch box. Something in my opinion is missing.
For example is there only one cable coming into each switch box with a red,white and black wire plus ground or is there more than one cable in a switch box beside the 3 wire with ground cable ?
no, not a typo. they used a different color. it's close to black, but it's not black.
not sure what the second cable is. there are 2 overhead lights that these 2 switches control. could it be for the second light?
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