By Mark J. Donovan
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A 3-way
light switch enables you to control a light from two different locations
within a home. For example, at the top and bottom of a stair case, or at two
ends of a hallway.
Installing a 3
way light switch on your own can be a little complicated, however once you
understand the basic wiring configuration, and follow a few safety rules it
is relatively straight forward to do. |
Tools
required
-
Needle Nose
Pliers
-
Screw Drivers
-
Wire
Strippers
-
Lineman’s
Pliers
-
Carpenter’s
Knife
Material
Required for Installing a 3-way light switch
-
Romex 12-3
(20 amp) or 14-3 (15 amp) for the traveler wires, depending upon your
application and National/Local electrical codes
-
Romex 12-2 or
14-2 for the feed wire.
Note: Romex 12-3 or 14-3 wire has 4 conductors in
it, three are sheathed (white/black/red) and one is bare copper (ground).
Romex 12-2 or 14-2 wire has 3 conductors in it, two are sheathed (black
and white) and one is bare copper.
Always use
the same gauge of wire for the entire circuit, either 14-x or 12-x gauge.
Safety
Working with electricity can be life threatening.
Consequently, when installing a 3 way light switch make sure you first turn
power off to the feed line that will power the 3 way light switch. The feed
line should be turned off at the circuit panel.
Instructions
for Installing 3 way Light Switch
Step 1:
Run a feed cable to the first light switch from the bottom of the switch
box. This is effectively the power feed coming from the circuit panel.
Step 2:
Run another cable, known as the traveler between the first switch and the
light fixture.
Step 3:
Run another traveler cable from the light fixture to the second switch.
Step 4:
A three way switch has a common terminal at the bottom and two traveler
terminals at the top. Consequently it is wise to have the traveler cables
come in from the top of the switch boxes.
Step 5:
At the first 3 way switch box, wire the black feed line to the common
terminal which is on the bottom right.
Step 6:
Next wire the black traveler wire (which is referred to as a “hot” wire
since power is running through it) to the top right traveler terminal using
a screwdriver.
Step 7:
Next wire the red traveler wire (again a “hot” wire) to the left traveler
terminal.
Step 8:
At the first switch box, attach the 12-3 white wire “neutral wire” to the
12-2 feed neutral wire with wire nuts.
Step 9:
Again, at the first switch box, connect the bare copper ground wires
together using lineman’s pliers. Twist the copper wires together several
times and add a copper crimp tube over them.
Step 10:
At the light box, again connect the bare copper ground wires together using
lineman’s pliers. Twist the copper wires together several times and add a
copper crimp tube over them.
Step 11:
At the light box, connect the red wires together with a wire nut.
Step 12:
Again, at the light box connect together with a wire nut the black wire
coming from the first 3 way switch box, and the white wire coming from the
second 3 way switch box. Since you are connecting a black “hot” wire to a
white wire that is typically neutral it is important to mark this white wire
as now “hot”. To do this, attach a piece of black electrical tape on each
end of the white wire that you connected to the black wire.
Step 13:
At the second 3 way light switch attach the white wire (with the black tape
on it indicating it is now used as a “hot” wire) to the top right traveler
terminal.
Step 14:
At the second 3 way light switch attach the red wire to the top left
traveler terminal.
Step 15:
Again at the second 3 way light switch, connect the black wire to the lower
right common terminal.
Step 16:
Again at the second 3 way light switch, connect together the bare copper
ground wires. Twist the copper wires together several times and add a copper
crimp tube over them.
Step 17:
With the circuit wired up you should be left with at the light box a white
wire end (neutral wire) that comes from the first switch box, a black wire
(hot wire” that comes from the second switch box, and a bare copper ground
wire (associated with the twisted copper wires coming into the light box
from the two Romex cables.). These three wires then connect to the light
fixture. The ground wire connects to the light chassis, and the black wire
end to one of the light fixture terminals, and the white wire end to the
other light fixture terminal. Once you have wired the light fixture attach
it to the light box.
Step 18:
Secure the 3 way switches into their switch boxes and attach face covers.
Step 19:
Power up the switch circuit, back at the circuit breaker panel box. Next,
test the light. If you followed these instructions perfectly you should have
a properly working 3 way light switch.
For information on Changing a Light
Switch, See HomeAdditionPlus.com's "How
to Change a Light Switch Ebook". It provides detailed, easy to
understand, step-by-step instructions and pictures, on how to replace a
Light Switch.
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of your home, and want to do something about it this Ebook provides
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