Any Ideas Why My 3 Way Switch Won't Work?

cumminsdsl

I am doing a remodel for my dad and the house has very old wires, the type that have the cloth material on the outside and have no real distince color. There is a Large stair case with two lights for it and each light is on a seperate switch and they both are 3 way switches. We updated all the outlets and switches in the house. Prior to doing this this these two lights worked fine but afterwards we had no lights and kept blowing a breaker. I had my buddy come over who is a fairly experienced electrician and he sorted out what wires went where and got the lights on but to get a light to come on you have to have both switches that go to it on, if either one of them is off no light and that is the same for both lights. He ran out of time the first time he was working on it and hasn't had time to come back and I am now trying ot fix it my self and I am about ready to give up. I just do minor electric work and have no idea how to troublshoot this one. I've put the wires on in about every combination that I thought would possibly work and no luck the lights always work but not properly. Does any one have any ideas what I should try?

bjg5240

Im not an electrician, but it sounds like you have the traveler wire mixed up. This is the wire that supplies power no matter the switch position. This wire goes on the stand alone screw on one side of the switch. The other two wires connect like a regular switch. Hope this helps.

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fridaymean

Don't pay attention to the above post. The travelers are the two wires that go in-between the two three-way switches. You also have a hot on one of the switches, and on the other a switch-leg. The leg is the one that goes up to the light(s). You would probaly save your self a headache or two if you call an electrician to come look at it for you.

BIGRED

Fridaymean, JAL everyboby is an electrician but us. Black to black, white to white, what is so hard about that?

Sparky Joe

what about when white goes to black, sorry don't know if you were being sarcastic.

First disconnect all the wires from both switches.

In one of your 3-way switch boxes you'll find a hot wire, identify it, that is your 'common' wire in that box, the other 2 are 'travelers'.

In the switch box where you found your hot wire, tie together your 'travelers'(for identification purposes). Now in the second switch box connect an ohm meter to the wires in every combination until you read continuity between 2 of them, those 2 are the 'travelers' in your second switch box, and the third wire will be the 'common' for that switch(or switch leg).

Now that you have your wires identified, connect your switches according to how they are labeled.

fridaymean

That is a good way to do it. You'll have to buy a decent meter to do it. Let us know it it works.

tribe_fan

I had a similiar situation - don't forget to check out the switches with a meter also. Even new ones can be defective. The original short could have also damaged a contact inside the switch.

brian11973

"Very old wire". Is this romex ( all wires in one opening in the box) or is this Knob & Tube ( one wire per opening in the box)? What kind of connection. One 3 wire cable, one 3 wire & one 2 wire, 3 indivual wires, etc?

This is important for troubleshooting. In the knobe & tube, you may a switched neutral. This would give you some very weird readings. Power when you should't, no power when you should.

bjg5240

Sorry man, hope I didn't screw you up. I thought I had my terms right

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