On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:10:27 -0700, Techhead wrote:

I had asked my father to re-sheetrock my kitchen ceiling. I had a light
fixture in the middle run by 3-way switches. He failed to re- wire it
correctly and now there is constant power to the light and both switches
don't work. The other problem is there are 4 wires running into the
light box and I have no clue how to re-wire this. Not sure why there are
4 wires running into the ligh box on a 3-way switch.

3-way switches use 3 wires. The 4th wire most likely is the neutral.

Here's what I'd do:

1. Turn off power.
2. Remove light fixture.
3. With power on again, determine your hot and neutral wires. Neutral
should be white.

4. Once you know the hot and neutral, it's a matter of figuring out the
other wires.

5. This is as good a diagram as any as to how a 3-way gets wired:
http://www.electrical-online.com/3waydiagram.htm

When making connections, turn off power to wires. It's one thing to make
a light bulb glow. Not so sure you want to light up as well.


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Franz Fripplfrappl