On Feb 12, 4:38 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

...

On Feb 11, 11:13 pm, Doug wrote:
On Feb 11, 10:38 pm, Doug wrote:

Hey everyone,

I've got the boxes open and am trying to sort everything about. I'm
about to get a light rig out to check for current, but thought I'd go
ahead and post this.

Switch 1 - description:

http://www.thegreatpuma.com/switch/switch1.jpg

CHAOS - this is the best way to describe what's going on in the first
box. There are three 3-way switches in this box all powering
different lights. The switch on the far right, off the edge of the
picture powers the fixture in question. There are seven - SEVEN -
cables (all with their own black/white/bare grd coming into the box).
One of the wires coming in goes to the Kitchen light switch's hot/
neutral connections. The third pole on the 3 way switch comes from a
pigtailed collection of 5 black wires, three of which head back out of
the switch, and one of which actually heads to the third pole on a
second 3-way switch (the switch on the far left - which powers the
family room overhead light), and the last of which heads to the switch
in question. As I was pulling the switch out of the box, this wire
broke and now the light won't work.

Switch 2 description:

http://www.thegreatpuma.com/switch/switch2.jpg

2 Black/White/Bare Grd wires into box:
Black and white from right side go to hot/neutral on switch.
Black from left side heads - by itself - out of the left side of the
box, and re-enters (Here I am making an assumption that this is the
same black wire) in the back of the box below where it originally came
in, and connects to nothing (strange, never seen this before). The
white wire is pigtailed (to add length) and connects directly to the
single pole on the switch.

Thanks a lot

Doug

After looking into the big switch box I was able to determine that the
middle switch is not connected to the other two switches with the
exception of a pigtailed white wire.

Further, I got a light out and tested the circuits. Huge pigtail of 5
black wires in the first box is hot, regardless of any switch's
position. That means that the third pole on the first three way
switch is always hot. I could not read any current nor light the bulb
since the third pole disconnected from the pigtail in the first box,
nor could I read any current or light the light in the second box.

I'm having trouble picturing in my head how this switch is
functioning. Any ideas?

Thanks
Doug

One more update before I goto bed - got the broken wire fixed. When
the light fixture is off I read current across both the hot/neutral
combo on switch one, third pole/neutral combo on switch one AND black/
neutral combo on switch two. third pole/neutral combo on switch 2
does not read when the light is off, nor does the unconnected black to
ground or neutral in switch 2.

Doug



RBM-

Thanks for injecting some common sense / reality check into this
thread.

I agree with you, from the keyboard any suggestion is just a WAG.



Doug-

if you feel comfortable doing it....you COULD label each conductor &
determine its path / connection. More easily with a helper.

per RBM's comment three ways need a continuous neutral & a couple of
travelers.....I'm not sure what you've got & its pretty close to
impossible to unscramble it from here.

cheers
Bob