"Doug" wrote in message
...
On Feb 12, 7:38 am, "RBM" wrote:
When you started this project, you were replacing a fixture. Was the
existing fixture and all this switching working properly at the time? You
clearly have a mess there as it appears that three sets of three way
switches were wired all illegally using multiples of two wire cables. Any
suggestions I could give would be wags without knowing where each
conductor
comes from and goes to. I would, at this point get an electrician on the
job
to do this.

"Doug" wrote in message


Thanks RBM, and I already called one when I noted there were no
responses to this message when I woke up this morning.

"Working properly" can mean many different things. Yes, everything
was "working" and it still is. The question I was seeking an answer
for - I guess - is why I needed to ground the fixture out to make it
work (and whether or not such practice causes a safety hazard). I
still don't know why I need to ground the fixture out. I can't quite
figure out how the switch is working with two hot wires leading into
one three way switch. Hopefully the electrician can "shed some light"
on it.
The fixture should work connected to a hot and a neutral. The neutral and
the ground are connected together at the service panel, so they are
essentially the same, except that the ground is only used as a safety to
carry fault current. Your actual problem is that the neutral conductor to
the light is open(dead). It's dificult to diagnose a problem like this when
the wiring was done in such an unorthodox fashion. With a meter, the
electrician will be able to ring out each wire, and figure out where the
open circuit is, and correct it. This is more easily done, leaving
everything connected and as is.

Again, thanks for everyone's help on this.

Doug