Replies

1. 
   mike_maines | Jul 07, 2009 05:26am | #1

   Yes-

   Let me guess.  One switch needs to be "on" in order for the other switch to operate the light?

2. 
   IMERC | Jul 07, 2009 05:49am | #2

   fire away....

    

    

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

   WOW!!! What a Ride!

   
   Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!

    

   "Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"

1. 
   NEXTLEVEL | Jul 07, 2009 02:09pm | #3

   The power runs to the switch box.  A 3-way wire runs from the switch to the light.  A 3-way wire runs from the same switch to another switch across the dining room.  This is not standard procedure and I am not sure how this was made to work.  Also, there are two more regular wires that run from the light box to other lights in other rooms.  So obviously there is a constant hot to the light box.

   Again, the only wire running to the light box is the 3-way wire.

   Nextlevel

1. 
   renosteinke | Jul 07, 2009 03:37pm | #4

   What you have is an incorrect, and possibly dangerous, method of wiring a 3-way.

   Look at it this way .... electricity needs to 'flow.' It needs both an 'in' and an 'out.' As long as you have both, the light will be 'on.'  When boyj wires are 'hot,' then both wires are 'in,' and the electricity has no place to go. There is power to the light, but it cannot flow - so it remains dark.

1. 
   VAVince | Jul 08, 2009 12:54am | #12

   UGH  UGH

   9 ways to wire a three way.... all safe....Think again

1. 
   mike_maines | Jul 08, 2009 01:59am | #14

   I'm still trying to figure out what a 3-way wire is.  Something like a 3-wire perhaps? 

2. 
   NEXTLEVEL | Jul 08, 2009 04:57am | #15

   Mike, I apologize for using the incorrect name for the cable that has the red, black, white and ground wire inside.  I have only bought this to wire 3-way switches.  It obviously has other purposes unknown to me.

   I am not an electrician but I have done a lot of wiring.  I have wired a lot of 3-way switches but nothing like this.

   Nextlevel

3. 
   mike_maines | Jul 08, 2009 03:49pm | #20

   I'm just joking with ya.  "3-wire" has three conductors.  Used for 3-ways but also good for other things.

4. 
   rasconc | Jul 08, 2009 06:50pm | #21

   Some of the other uses are for light and fan (already mentioned), multiwire circuit (can be confusing and has some possibilities for untrained to get in trouble), a switched receptacle, spliting up some lights for different switches to name a few. For those who have fought for it Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.

5. 
   NEXTLEVEL | Jul 08, 2009 11:55pm | #22

   I figured it out today.  It is unlike any 3-way wiring I have ever seen.  I will try to make a drawing and put it on this thread.

   nextlevel

2. 
   BillHartmann | Jul 08, 2009 07:16am | #17

   Sounds fine to me. Properly done it is perfectly safe and legal.Most real electricians would reconize it..
   William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe

2. 
   IMERC | Jul 07, 2009 06:26pm | #5

   how accesable is everything... 

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->

   WOW!!! What a Ride!

   Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!

    

   "Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"

3. 
   Righty_Tighty | Jul 07, 2009 06:34pm | #6

   I don't think I caught your question exactly.  Is it not working suddenly? If so, what are the symptoms?  Or have you simply disassembled it and need to know how to reassemble it? 

   As i understand it, the power was brought into the first switch.  Instead of feeding two other outlets from that switch box, the installer wanted to do it from the light box so they had to carry a constant hot, the neutral, and the switched hot to the light box.  Sloppy? Maybe, but no biggie, as long as you know, in the light box, which hot is which and as long as the light box isn't overfilled.

   edit: Oh yeah: I'm supposing that by "3-way wire" you mean a cable with 3 insulated wires plus a ground.

   Edited 7/7/2009 11:36 am ET by Righty_Tighty

   Edited 7/7/2009 11:51 am ET by Righty_Tighty

1. 
   NEXTLEVEL | Jul 08, 2009 12:37am | #9

   We were taking out some walls and one of the walls had three 3-way switches on it.  My helper took out the switches before I realized how this one situation was wired.  He also took the light fixture down so I do not know how the fixture and the switch was wired.

   There is a 4 gang box on the wall where the power comes up.  It has two 3-way and two regular switches in it.  I can pull it all out  but I was trying to not do that.  I extended the 3-way wire  that the switch was on in the wall we moved so that I could put it in an existing wall.  How does power get to this switch and how does a constant hot wire get to the light fixture?

   I suppose I will have to take out the other switches so that I can see how it was wired.  At any rate, it is a little strange.

   Nextlevel

1. 
   frontiercc2 | Jul 08, 2009 12:45am | #10

   It's one of these . . . . The rub is figgering out which one:http://www.homeimprovementweb.com/information/how-to/three-way-switch.htm

2. 
   NEXTLEVEL | Jul 08, 2009 05:15am | #16

   It is not one of those configurations.  I have been through all of those.  In fact, I have those diagrams printed out and in a notebook.  This setup is very unusual.

   Nextlevel

3. 
   Righty_Tighty | Jul 08, 2009 12:47am | #11

   It sounds fairly simple to reconstruct, but if you would post a drawing it would help to avoid confusion.  At a minimum label what is in each box, and the cables between them.

   Edited 7/7/2009 5:49 pm ET by Righty_Tighty

   Edited 7/7/2009 5:50 pm ET by Righty_Tighty

4. 
   BillHartmann | Jul 08, 2009 07:22am | #18

   The sounds like what you have.http://www.selfhelpandmore.com/switch-outlet/3-way/3-way-wiring-power-fixture-same-switch.phpThe drawing only shows the basic case where you have a 2 wire cable run from the switch to the light and only control the light.Apparently your setup runs both switched and unswitched power to the light and then unswitched power continues to other downstream loads.They describe using the black for the always hot and red for the switched hot. But the opposite would be correct also..
   William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe

5. 
   NEXTLEVEL | Jul 08, 2009 01:40pm | #19

   Your drawing shows the setup I am working with.  The only difference is that from switch #1 on the left there is a black, red , white and ground cable going to the light.  I do have switched and unswitched power at the light because power does go from it to other lights.

   This morning I am going to pull the switches and wires out of that box so I can see how the power hooks up.  It should prove interesting.

   Nextlevel

4. 
   DanH | Jul 07, 2009 07:22pm | #7

   Nothing wrong with the installation that I can deduce. Could be perfectly proper and legal.
   As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz

1. 
   IMERC | Jul 07, 2009 08:03pm | #8

   just another way of how many ways to do something...

   need more info... 

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->

   WOW!!! What a Ride!

   Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!

    

   "Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"

5. 
   MisterT | Jul 08, 2009 01:00am | #13

   The 3rd conductor in the wire to the fixture was probably put in for the possibility of a fan.If you are not wiring a second "device at the fixture location then simply Cap both ends of the RED conductor and wire it as you would if it were a "2" wire.
   .
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