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Message
Changing light switch
Posted on 4/12/25 at 3:52 pm
Posted on 4/12/25 at 3:52 pm
Ok so I’m by no means an electrician and I’m fairly novice when it comes to electrical work… I have what I think is called a 2 way light switch that 2 switches control one light. They were not communicating correctly and would sometimes get stuck on or off. One switch seemed loose so I changed it and they still weren’t not communicating correctly. Changed the other one and now neither one will turn on at all. Any thoughts or help? Yes I turned the breaker back on at the end and the other lights on that breaker are working
4
Posted on 4/12/25 at 4:03 pm to AUVet21
It's called a 3 way switch. Look it up on the interwebs, there will be a wiring diagram.
Posted on 4/12/25 at 4:03 pm to AUVet21
Look up a 3 way switch wiring diagram. There's a few different ways to go about this depending where power enters the light circuit. You have power wire, neutral, and travelers.
Posted on 4/12/25 at 4:12 pm to GoAwayImBaitn
Well I just connected the wires back exactly like they were. So I would assume that isn’t the problem since they have worked the last 5 years.
Posted on 4/12/25 at 4:16 pm to AUVet21
Did you buy 3 way switches to replace the old ones? If not, that would cause them not to work.
Posted on 4/12/25 at 4:28 pm to AUVet21
quote:
Did you buy 3 way switches to replace the old ones?
^This
If the light switch toggle has "on/off" printed on it, you don't have a 3-way switch
Posted on 4/12/25 at 5:12 pm to Cage Fighter Trainee
I’ll have to double check but they were the ones the guy at Home Depot said
Posted on 4/12/25 at 6:22 pm to AUVet21
quote:
I’ll have to double check but they were the ones the guy at Home Depot said
It’s very obvious to see. A 2 way only has 2 posts to attach wires. A 3 way will have 3 posts.
Posted on 4/12/25 at 6:48 pm to LSUintheNW
Ok they are for sure 3 way. So now I’m back to square one
Posted on 4/12/25 at 7:36 pm to AUVet21
quote:
Well I just connected the wires back exactly like they were.
Did you take any photos before you disconnected the wires?
Posted on 4/12/25 at 7:38 pm to AUVet21
quote:
Ok they are for sure 3 way. So now I’m back to square one
Time to break out a multimeter and identify the power wire then go from there
Posted on 4/12/25 at 8:20 pm to AUVet21
quote:
they were the ones the guy at Home Depot said
DEI hire?
Posted on 4/12/25 at 9:22 pm to GoAwayImBaitn
Ok so there are 4 wires total. Copper grounded, red running to common, and black and white running travelers. Red and black both read 120v and white reads 40v. I’m seeing online that is probably just ghost voltage. However, when I check resistance on black and red it reads over 800-900 and white reads 0L. Like I said not an electrician but everything I read online it sounds like the wiring is going bad? House was built in 05 for reference
Posted on 4/12/25 at 10:34 pm to AUVet21
everything I read online it sounds like the wiring is going bad?
---
That's very unlikely.
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That's very unlikely.
Posted on 4/12/25 at 10:34 pm to AUVet21
Update… I have the switches working. Turns out the common wire and one of the travelers were swapped. I am still getting a high resistance reading though on one of the wires. Should I be worried? And how do the switches work for 5 years with the wires crossed and then stop working? That makes 0 sense to me
Posted on 4/13/25 at 9:27 am to AUVet21
quote:
they were the ones the guy at Home Depot said
Worked out for you this time, but if you need advice on purchases like this, go to an Ace Hardware. HD and Lowe’s employees don’t have the same level of knowledge as the Ace guys.
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