"John" wrote in message
...
I have a wall switch that is not working right.

The switch should work like this: push the button and light turns on. Push
it
again and light turns off. It's a three way switch imho. It is also the
only
switch to the light in question that I know of.

Now the switch works a bit strange. When I press it the light turns on.
When I
press it again the light does NOT turn off. Multiple press and nothing
happens. I
let the switch be for about ten minutes and the tried to turn off. The
light
turned off like it should. This is how it works now: it will turn off only
after
some time passes.

I switched power from mains and examined the switch. I appears OK and
looks just
like a simple switch. I pulled out another three way switch is is
identical and
works OK. The wires were connected identically although.

Leaving the switch off with neutral and hot wires dangling in the air I
turned
mains on. Suprisingly the lights were on!

What could be the problem? The switch is probably broken but how come the
light
could be on when the hot and neutral were cut off??



Is this a low voltage relay system? It sounds as though the relay is
getting hung up and may need to be replaced. That would account for the
lights being on with the switch off. A real three way switch has 3 wires
connected to it. The wires on the switch are low voltage. The 120 volt
line and neutral are connected in the relay box.

Is there a box near your main panel with a bunch of relays in it? You will
need to identify the relay for that particular light. It may already be
labeled, but you could have someone press the switch repeatedly and you
could listen for the relay clicking.


John Grabowski
http://www.mrelectrician.tv