On 11 Sep 2006 16:36:45 -0700, "jtorr" wrote:

Yes, you're right.
It wasn't evident when I initially looked at it on paper with 2 of the
5 needed switches.
Once you add the 3rd, a loop is created such that no matter what the
position of those 3-way dimmers, the lights would never go out.

I don't think so. I think you were right in the first place.

Explain this loop to me that you refer to above.

I consider the possibility before I read the second post, and I don't
think there is one.

I don't know where your first, second, and bank of five switches are
to be, but if you do it without the 4-way, and without the 5 3-way,
you'll have to go back to one of the first two switches to turn things
on when the master power is off because of one of them. That is
exactly what you were trying to avoid.

If you have a 3-way, a 4-way, and in parallel five 3-way dimmers,
you'll have everything you want. Explain to me, in detail, why the
lights would never go out. I think they will go out fine.

I presume you are not using fluorscents, unless you have special ones
that can dim.

Posted and mailed, but please reply by post in the thread, or both
ways. Not just to me.


So, redesigning my original idea, instead of wiring the junction box
between the 4-way switch and the 5 3-way switches, I think I'll place
the junction box after the 2nd 3-way switch and replace the 5 3-way
dimmers with plain dimmers (1 for each light bank).

So, the resulting circuit would be :
source - 3way - 4way - 3way - junction - 5 plain dimmers - 5 light
banks

Essentially the junction box would be spliting the common with all the
neutrals tied together.

Thanks for the input.


RBM (remove this) wrote:
Interesting concept, but the problem is the final set of three way switches
would have to have their traveler wires in parallel. Any one switch that was
switched to turn on a bank of lights would also feedback through the system
and cause others banks of lights to energize or disconnect



wrote in message
ups.com...
I have 5 rows of lighting I need to control from 3 locations.
2 of the locations would be to just power on and off.
The 3rd location would be for dimmer control. However, I need
independent dimmer control for each of the 5 rows.
I know by wiring a single 4-way circuit, I can control power on and off
at all 3 locations, but this would power on and off all 5 rows at the
same time.
Since I only need power control at two of those locations, I was
thinking of wiring it as follows:
- source power to the first 3-way switch (power control point)
- then continue the circuit to the 4-way switch (power control point)
- then continue the circuir into a junction box to split out to 5
3-way dimmer switches

The intent would be for the 5 3-way dimmers to control each of the 5
rows independently.
Can this be done without causing a problem ?