So what you should see if you have correct 3 wire electrical cable romex is a black power white neutral and now a 3rd red wire. It could be there is or once was a three way switch in play.
How To Wire A 3 Way Switch Wiring Diagram Dengarden
3 way switch red wire. The grounding wire is connected both to the switch using a pigtail wire and to the second cable run passing onward to the next switch. When you see a red wire in a light switch box it can mean two things. Red and blue wires link traveler terminals of both switches. This 3 way light switch wiring diagram shows how to do the light switch wiring and the light when the power is coming to the light fixture. Or it could be the red wire is the wire going to the fixture and the black wires are the live wires. The black hot wire connects to the far right switchs common terminal.
Red wire power or hot wire black wire power or hot wire white wire neutral bare copper ground when wiring a 3 way switch circuit all we want to do is to control the black wire hot wire to turn on and off the load from 2 different locations. The black and red wires are travelers and are connected to the traveler screw terminals on the two switches. The colors will vary depending on whether nm cable or conduit was used. Again these are the travelers that connect both three way switches in the circuit. Well cover the easier scenario first. It doesnt matter which traveler goes on which common terminal.
If the switch box is metal it also must be pigtailed to the grounding wires. At the line switch box the black wire of the two wire line cable gets connected to the copper or black screw terminal on the three way switch. The cable run linking the two switches is made with 3 wire cable. The red and black wires travelers of the 3 wire cable get connected to the common terminals on the three way switch. With nm cable the wire colors for travelers will be black and red using 3 wire cable. Attach the red and black wires from the other bundle four wire to the switchs brass terminals.
There is no standard for wire colors on 3 way switch travelers. The three way switch is a variation of the standard single pole switch which controls a light only from one locationa third type is the four way switch which is used in conjunction with two three way switches to control lighting from more than two locationsthis configuration may be used in open plan homes or in large kitchens or great rooms where a central bank of lighting fixtures might. Regardless of what 3 way switch wiring diagram youre following youll need to use a 3 wire cable to connect the two 3 way light switches. With conduit the wire colors for travelers could be any color. In this diagram power enters the fixture box.
Gallery of 3 Way Switch Red Wire
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