"wilma harrington" wrote in message
...
Hi again, if any of you remember the last help you gave me, - it was
great. All it really took was for me to sit down and draw a picture
with red black white and green lines between all the switches and what
they lead to. Thanks so much.

The other side of this house seems to be newer. This bunch of light
switches is almost exactly like the ones in the front of the house (two
units of a 3 way on top with an off/on on each bottom of each of the
two) except that there's a different (newer?) formation of them. On the
right hand side there are two brass screws on top and bottom. On the
left hand side of each there are two screws (iron color) in the middle
of the unit (top and bottom) Am I making sense? They're like
brass -3-way switch- brass

iron
iron
iron
iron

brass -simple on/off
switch- brass

I've been trying to look them up from Google but haven't found a unit
like that, let alone one diagrammed with a red black white and green
schematic. If someone could point me to a web page that spells out how
it's supposed to work, I'd be grateful.

Now there's one thing more - Is there a way that those two units are
themselves connected together with a short wire? Stuffed in the back of
the switch box was a short (2² +/-) wire with the ends stripped and
curled just like all connecting wires are. It's like someone didn't
know what to do with it and so just crammed it in with all the others.
Or maybe it was left over from a different setup and wasn't necessary
with them this way? Just curious.

Any and all hints are appreciated lots, honest,
Wilma H

My first guess is that you have a 4 way switch. There are lots of wiring
diagrams on the web for 4-way switches. But your description is confusing.
It looks like you have 8 lugs (screws) on a single switch. Never seen
anything like that. A 4-way switch has 5 lugs, one of them being the ground.
How many wire screws are on a single switch? And when you say a "bunch of
light switches" do you mean a set of 3 switches in a single electrical box
(known as a 3-gang box) or a group of switches in one part of the house?