3 way switches

[cfuoco]

I need a little help. 3 way switches always confuse me. I am renovating my basement and I have installed 5 recessed lighting fixtures to be run off of a 3 way. Right now all I have is 2 wire power feed going into the 1st switch box. I have just enough 3 wire to run from one switch to the next and plenty of 2 wire to connect the lights. I just need a little tutorial on how to wire it. Thanks in advance.

[Paul W. Abernathy]

lol......no problem...

A.)Feed the (2-wire " HOT " ) into the first switch box.....
B.) Run a 14-3 w/g Romex to the second switch box location....
C.) Run a 14-2 w/g Romex to the first recess light from the second switch box....then loop to the next recess and so on.

Now.......at the first switch...take the WHITE WIRE from the (2-wire'HOT" Feed) and connect it ( via wirenut) to the WHITE wire in the 14-3 w/g going to the second switch box....this will carry your needed neutral to the second box directly......so THATS DONE...

Now.....on your 3 way switch you have 3 screws...one is called a common and is usually BLACK or darker copper...but if you do not know what the common screw is probably should not be doing this...so I will move on...

Take the BLACK wire from the (2-wire "HOT" FEED) to the common screw on the 1st 3 way switch......

Now....on the same switch take the BLACK and RED in the 14-3 w/g to the other (2) screws on the 3 way switch...one on each side...These are called your Travelers......remember that.....NOW go to your 2nd switch location.

P.S. Do not forget you will have (2) bare ground wires you will need to twist together with a pigtail that will go to the ground screw on your switch.

OK....now you are at your second 3 way switch....you will have the 14-3 w/g that came from the 1st switch..and the 14-2 w/g that goes up to the recess lights......

Remember the common on the 1st 3 way switch we talked about....you are going to want to take the BLACK wire in the 14-2 w/g that goes up to the recess lights to that screw on the switch.....now....the RED and BLACK wire ' Travelers" we talked about coming from the 1st 3-way switch will go to the other (2) terminals on the 3-way switch...one on each side...dont worry it does not matter which screw...as long as it is not the common screw....lol...but we went over that already...

Now......the WHITE wire that came over in the 14-3 w/g from the 1st 3-way switch location will connect with the WHITE wire going up to the recess lights and wirenut and push back into the box....that is completing your neutral to the lights.......

Also...do the same with the grounds as you did on the first 3-way switch....

YOU should be all set.........

[gbeaumont]

Hi to all,

there are some great diagrms at:

http://www.the-home-improvement-web....way-switch.htm

Here's the most common way of doing it

Regards

Gerry

[Paul W. Abernathy]

lol....dang Gerry....If you had called me earlier you could have saved me all the typing...thehehehe....Images are worth a THOUSAND words.

Here is a site that may help him as well...http://www.handymanwire.com/articles/3wayswitch.html

[cfuoco]

Thank you gentlemen. You were a great help.