Anyone an electrician?

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jleiwig

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I have a hallway light circuit with two switches one on either end. I bought two new 3 way switches to replace the 60 year old switches as just a general safety upgrade as I'm remodeling my house. Anyway....

I have a wiring problem and none of the diagrams I've looked at online match what I've what i've got. I have one box with a white, black and red. The second box down the hall has two blacks and a red.

Is this enough info to help me out? It's really frustrating me...I hate wiring.
 
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Justin, in a perfect world both boxes have the same wires.
since the one with a white black and red is correct for todays wiring i will tell you this.
the black and red are hot wires. the white is the neutral. you need two hot wires in a three way curcuit so you get the on off at both ends of the hall.
in order for the switches to be wired so they work correctly you only have to make sure the red and black wires are on in the same positions on the switch at each end of the hall. hope that makes since.
Now since your second box has two blacks and a red, you can be pretty sure the red is still a hot wire. one of the blacks is acting as the neutral and one is acting as the second hot wire.
If it where me I would do this. hook up one switch with the red, white and black wires. wire up the second switch making sure the red wire is in the same position on this switch as it was on the first one. you have a 50 50 chance of getting the black ones right the first try. if the switches do not work with the black wires hooked up switch them. you switches should now be working. test both switches for on and off in both the up and down position before deciding that they are working properly. a three way curcuit that is wired wrong will actually let the light turn on but when you get to the other end of the hall and flip that switch it will not go off and weird stuff like that.

Oh one last thing. does one of the black wires in the box with two black wires have a twist in it? like someone wrapped it around a nail. this is one way an electrician indicates what wire is serving as the neutral. there are others also. maybe they left electrical tape on it or put a white mark on it somewhere. but twisting what is called a pigs tail twist in the wire is pretty common.

OOPS Edit this post to say Runner where I put Neutral...Duh there is no neutral for a switch. What I wrote is still correct just a poor choice in words.
 
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Didn't the switches come with instructions?? You probably need to use a volt meter to check out the various wires.

The white and black wires at the one box are most likely the line power and the red wire is most likely the "runner". Been a while since I wired one of those and I just followed the enclosed instructions so I don't remember the details. I'm sure someone will be along shortly with more detailed help.
 
With a 3-way switch you have what are called travelers, these wires simply go from one switch to the other. The third wire is from the source or going to the light. Like Daniel said, more than likely the red one should go on the bottom screw of your switch. Hard to explain on here. but hope this helps a bit.
 
last time i did that , after wiring and rewiring , checked on line came up with two diagrams . had electrician come out ( family member ) and check it out .things was ran correct ...... bad new switch ........... did not know witch one / replaced both new switches with new more expensive switches .
not much help / sorry spent 1/2 day on replacing a switch
 
Also, there should be no nuetral involved in your switches, so the colors dont mean a thing. Usually on the 3 way switches there are two bright brass screws and one blackened. the blackened one would be for the "hot" wire either from the source of power or going to the light. (incidently one of the other two wires will be hot, depending on the position of the other switch.)
 
The first box will have a white, red, black wire. The white wire goes to the light and the black and red go to the other switch.
The second box will have a red and two black. The black wire that is by itself on the side of the switch goes to the light(confirm there's no voltage with a light or meter) and the other black along with the red are travelers from the first switch. They are together on the same side of the switch.

Hope that helps.
 
jleiwig said:
I have a hallway light circuit with two switches one on either end. I bought two new 3 way switches to replace the 60 year old switches as just a general safety upgrade as I'm remodeling my house. Anyway....

I have a wiring problem and none of the diagrams I've looked at online match what I've what i've got. I have one box with a white, black and red. The second box down the hall has two blacks and a red.

Is this enough info to help me out? It's really frustrating me...I hate wiring.
Click to expand...


First off whenever you take out old switches make a diagram of the wiring onto the switches. This will help putting back the new ones. There is numerous ways a switch can be wired to a light and now add a second switch and the possibilities double. There is something you are not telling us because there is no such cable that has 2 blacks and a red wire in it. unless it is greenfield flex and you pull your own wire in it and I am sure they did not run greenfield in a house. Are there other cables in the switch boxes??? That is a very inportant ????? If by chance there is only one cable in each box then this means they were both brought to a central location and that is probably a junction box or even the light box. One of the black wires in the box where there is 2 black wires is probably taped black and is probably a white wire under it. The 2 black wires go on the 2 brass screws and the red goes on the darker colored screw. The 2 brass screws on a 3-way switch are caleed the travelers and the dark colored screw is called the point. There is no neutral in a switch unless it has a pilot light. On the other box and here is where it becomes a guessing game but the proper sequence is the red and white go to the travellers or the 2 brass screwqs and the black wire goes to the point which is the dark colored screw. Now I say guessing game because they could also used the black and white wires as the travellers and been consistant and used the red wire as the point which is the dark colored screw. All you need to do is try either version and as Daniel pointed out it would either let you operate the light with one or the other switch but not both.

Now if you come back and tell us there is more than one cable in each box we can narrow it down even more for you. If not then this is the best we can do.

REMEMBER when making any connections or changes to shut the power off. If you do not feel confortable doing this call an electrician.

Boy there are many possibilities.
 
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I learned a long time ago not to assume any colors of wire mean anything in a situation like this. Especially if the house is older and has had previous work done. I have seen everything from ground wires hot to wires not connected to anything. Unless you trace the wires either physically or with a meter you won't know for sure. After you determine which wires go where then you can use some of the descriptions and diagrams that have been shared. As always power should be off and doubled check to be off. I know this is not much help but it's the only way you can know for sure.
 
rej19 said:
I learned a long time ago not to assume any colors of wire mean anything in a situation like this. Especially if the house is older and has had previous work done. I have seen everything from ground wires hot to wires not connected to anything. Unless you trace the wires either physically or with a meter you won't know for sure. After you determine which wires go where then you can use some of the descriptions and diagrams that have been shared. As always power should be off and doubled check to be off. I know this is not much help but it's the only way you can know for sure.
Click to expand...

To true, I have gotten bit quite a few times because a wire that was supposed to be dead still had a heart beat or two in it.
 
Yea lets throw a couple 4 way switches in there too. I have seen my share of weird wiring practices and even by so called electricians. But when you have homeowners get involved then all bets are off. One little electrician note to remember, a neutral wire is always white but a white wire is not always a neutral. Like I said I can think of numerous scenerios of this wiring of these switches and without seeing it it is hard to explain. If the power is coming into the light then that is why you use the red and white as travellers. You do not want 2 whites coming back to the light.
 
"I have one box with a white, black and red. The second box down the hall has two blacks and a red."

If you look at switch #1, the white wire will be hooked up to a black or sometimes a silver colored screw (this is either the hot wire coming from the breaker panel or the wire going to the light fixture) the other wires that will be hooked up to brass colored screws are called switch legs, these go to the other switch and are connected to the brass colored screws on switch #2. The other black wire on switch #2 will be hooked up to the Black or silver colored screw which will either come from the breaker panel or go to the light Fixture. As in previous posts make sure power is turned off before doing anything.
 
areaman said:
absolutely, the colors like I said dont really mean anything. Just be glad it isnt a 4 way switch. LOL
Click to expand...

Actually I already did a 4 way and two three ways. That one was easy. This one not so easy because the colors aren't so normal. I'll try some of the ideas given today.

I did test them with a meter and if I'm remembering correctly the black wire in the box with the black red and white was the only hot wire with no switches on either end. I'll have to double check again before I mess with them again.

Oh...and on my three way switches the odd pole is a copper screw and the rest are silver.
 
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