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Post by slacker 🐨 on Jan 5, 2021 14:45:08 GMT -5
I haven't tried to track this down yet, and it's strange that three different 3 way switch sets in my house are behaving in the same way, but I think this just must be a bad switch. The behavior is the same for all three pairs of switches:
One switch must be on for the light to come on. So if switch A is off, the light is off no matter what I do with the other one. If switch A is on, switch B will control the light just fine.
I'm guessing switch A has failed. thoughts? I've never had a 3 way switch fail, so it seems really strange that 3 different lights that are controlled by two switches are behaving the same way. We haven't been in the house that long and I think all 3 worked OK before, but it's possible they've been this way since we moved in. I've been procrastinating working on them and have just lived with it so far, but I'm determined to get to the bottom of it now.
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MJB
Wholenote
Who's we sucka? Smith, Wesson and me.
Posts: 634
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Post by MJB on Jan 5, 2021 15:12:50 GMT -5
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Post by modbus on Jan 5, 2021 17:45:48 GMT -5
Did someone just use 2 way switches?
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Post by LTB on Jan 5, 2021 17:56:21 GMT -5
Slacker I bought a home 37 years ago that did exactly the same thing. Someone had bought a newer 3-way switch that had the position of the screw terminals in a different configuration and they wired it by the way the original was. I corrected it and problem solved. If these switches have been this way since you moved in then it is a possibility they are miss wired. I find it interesting all work in this same manner.
Either miss wire, band traveling wire between switch, or bad switch
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Post by modbus on Jan 5, 2021 18:47:56 GMT -5
It seems improbable to me to have 3 switches all break in the same way in a new house.
I would guese that the switches are either A) miswired, B) somebody for some reason used a 4 way switch in place of a 3 way in each of those circuits, and just ignored one of the connections, or 3) cheaped out and just wired in 2 way switches in series with no traveler -- it'll turn on the light as long as both switches are on.
In any event, I think your going to have to pull off some switch covers and take a peek.
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Post by LTB on Jan 5, 2021 23:43:12 GMT -5
or 3) cheaped out and just wired in 2 way switches in series with no traveler -- it'll turn on the light as long as both switches are on. In any event, I think your going to have to pull off some switch covers and take a peek. Good thought lol |
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Jan 6, 2021 7:51:01 GMT -5
It seems improbable to me to have 3 switches all break in the same way in a new house. I would guese that the switches are either A) miswired, B) somebody for some reason used a 4 way switch in place of a 3 way in each of those circuits, and just ignored one of the connections, or 3) cheaped out and just wired in 2 way switches in series with no traveler -- it'll turn on the light as long as both switches are on. In any event, I think your going to have to pull off some switch covers and take a peek. Yeah, I'm going to dig into them this weekend. I'm very comfortable with working on that stuff, I just thought the symptom was unique and that someone with experience in the field would read it and save me some debugging time by saying "Oh yeah, I've seen that. They switched the common and traveler wires" or something like that. I hope to hell it's not bad wiring. I can deal with bad switches or misconnected switches, but I'm not up for running new wiring. This house was built by the premier builder in our city, I doubt he used cheap/bad subcontractors or cut corners. |
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Post by walshb 🦒 on Jan 6, 2021 8:52:02 GMT -5
So this is a fairly new house? If so, any kind of warranty?
Anyway, hope you find the problem and it's an easy fix. I had to troubleshoot some of the most advanced CNC machines in the world, and I can still get stumped by simple house wiring sometimes.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Jan 6, 2021 9:21:11 GMT -5
So this is a fairly new house? If so, any kind of warranty? Anyway, hope you find the problem and it's an easy fix. I had to troubleshoot some of the most advanced CNC machines in the world, and I can still get stumped by simple house wiring sometimes. New to me, built in '97. |
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Post by modbus on Jan 6, 2021 11:20:13 GMT -5
Oh, I was thinking it was a newer build. I guess that makes malfunctions a bit more likely, but still I think your going to have to take a look. Post some pictures if you'd like, I'm sure you'd get some good feedback on what might be going on. |
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