On Nov 6, 1:12*pm, "Joe" wrote:
"Josh" wrote in message

...



On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:19:22 GMT, "Joe" wrote:

"N8N" wrote in message
....
On Nov 6, 10:35 am, gcotterl wrote:
I have an L-shaped hallway with:

a ceiling light in the middle of each leg
a light switch at the end of each leg
a light switch at the intersection.

Several years ago, I used to be able to turn the lights on and off
from any switch. But now the lights can be turned on and off by only
one switch (at the end of one leg).

In previous attempts to resolve this problem, I replaced all of the
switches but I didn't record what wires went to each terminal.

Question: What kind of new switches do I need (single-pole, 3-way, 4-
way) and how many of each?

How do I determine what wire connects to each terminal of each switch?

You need two three way switches and one four way (or you can use three
four way switches and just disregard one terminal on each.)

To determine how to hook them up, you'd have to open up all the boxes
and puzzle out the wiring. *There's many different ways they could be
hooked up and it is difficult to determine from here which you have

nate

You can't use a four way as a substitute for a 3-way. *There's no common
terminal on a four way switch.

Sure you can; any of the 4 terminals can be the common, with the
travelers connected to the opposite 2 (and the one directly across
unused).

To the OP, you need to continuity-check the wires to figure out which
ones are the "travelers" -- these go between the switches only. *The
original 3-way switch locations will have 2 travelers, the 4-way
location will have 4 travelers (2 each connected to the 2 at each
3-way location).

Google "4 way switch diagram" and you'll find more information --
there are many ways to run the physical wires, but they all degenerate
to the same switching flow.

Josh

Josh,

How? *if you number the terminals on a 4 way as 1 through 4, the hot ones
are 1 and 3 when the switch is in one position and the hots are 2 and 4 when
the switch is in the other position. *There is not one terminal that is
'common'. *If there's no common, then you don't have a terminal that goes
from the switch to the fixture (or, for that matter, there's no common for
the originating hot). *If *I'm misunderstanding this, please help me out.

These switches don't connect to the hot or the load they connect to
the travelers.

There are 4 terminals lets call them A, A+, B and B+
In one position A is connected A+ and B is connected to B+. In the
other position A is connect to B+ and B is connected to A+. Think
straight thru or crossing over. Draw a diagram of a 3 way switching
circuit and insert this switch between the two switches connected to
the travelers. Follow the current path as you change each switch. Draw
it out, work thru it until you understand it and tyou will never
forget it. Changing the position of the 4 way switch has the effect of
reversing the connection of the travelers on a 3 way switch. You can
have as many 4 way switches between the 3 way switches as you like. My
inlaw's house has a circuit with 4 four way ans 2 3 way switches to
control a light in the den

BTW in a pinch you can use a 4-way switch as a 3 way switch. let A or
A+ be the common and B and B+ will be the travelers Also if you choose
B or B+ as the common A and A+ will be connected to the travelers.

Jimmie