On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:10:56 -0400, Mortimer Schnerd, RN wrote:

I'm visiting my dad and he asked me to swap out a light switch just inside the
front door down stairs. There are three light switches that allow you to turn
the downstairs (garage) lights on so it doesn't matter whether you flip it from
any approach to the garage, the result should be the same. The switch just
inside the front door had become very iffy and we both decided another switch
was necessary.

He bought another on-off switch and I swapped them out. There were two white
wires that I connected to the brass screws and two red wires that connected to
the silver colored screws on the sides of the new switch... just like the old
switch was set up. Initially, it seemed to work just fine but we later found it
now acted as a sort of master switch. The other switches were no longer able to
turn on the lights unless this new switch was also turned on. What in the hell
happened?

I swear there were only the four wires and that I connected them in an identical
way to the original switch.... white to brass. This should have been just a
simple swap.




Are you sure the old switch wasn't either a 3-way or 4-way switch? You
state that there are 3 light switches, an indication that you might need a
4-way switch.