Logically it cant be done as both switches would need to be on for the circuit to work power the bulb that is but a two way switch system means that either switch should be able to turn on the bulb. At the light it connects to the neutral terminal.
3 Way Switch Wiring Diagram
How to wire switches. Twist the wires together with a yellow wire nut. Tape the wire nut to the wires with electrical tape. Put a piece of tape on the wire that goes to the common terminal screw. Push the wires into the back of the gang box. White black and red plus a bare ground wire. Cut two lengths of black wire and two lengths of bare copper wire about 6 inches long.
On each of the two single pole switches install a hot wire pigtail and a ground wire pigtail that will be used to attach the switches to the wires from the feed cable. Connect the source wire to the bottom terminal of the switch and the other black wire to the top terminal. To connect the switches simply score the wire with your wire stripper and push the insulation to expose about 34 in. The 14 3 cable has three insulated conductors. There is only the single 3 wire plus ground in the downstairs switch box and only two 2 wire plus ground cables at the fixture. This gauge is when you want to use the quick connect method when wiring a light switch.
Strip about 34 inch of insulation from one end of each black wire. When i say 2 way swithces i mean a switch with two copper screws. Connect the wires to the new 3 way switches with ground screws using one of the two wiring diagrams fig. Twist the other end together with the black wire from the incoming circuit cable and the black wire from the cable going. Connect one of the green pigtails from the orange wire nut to each of the bare copper ground wires that are connected to the three fixtures. Two wire cable runs from the combo to the light fixture and the switch output is connected to the black wire running to the fixture hot terminal.
Connect one end of the 6 inch wire to the top terminal of the first switch. Feed a length of 14 3 type nm cable or 12 3 if youre connecting to 12 gauge wire between the two boxes. The other two wires can attach to either of the identical terminals. Connect the last switch in the usual manner looping the wire around the screw in a clockwise direction. The two switches appear to be connected by a 3 wire plus ground cable. The green screw at one end is for the ground wire.
Use two 2 way switches to create a two way switch system. Simply strip the wire to the length specified and push the wire into the hole. In this picture you can see the strip gauge on the back of the switch. When replacing an existing three way light switch be sure to return the wires to the proper screw terminals. The source neutral wire is spliced to the neutral on the receptacle half of the combo device and to the white cable wire running to the light. When nothing is hooked up there is power in the 2 wire plus ground cable on the upstairs switch.
Gallery of How To Wire Switches
