Hi,

I have a problem that doesn't make any sense to me.

I have two outside lights (one on my patio and one on a post) that are
wired via two three way switches - one in the hall and one in the
garage. The common on the hall switch is hot, with two orange
travelers to the 3 way switch in the garage. The outside light is
wired via 2 connect. romex to the slave three way switch via wire tie
from a red wire on the common on the garage switch, with the other end
of the red wire routed through the conduit with the orange travelers to
the hall switch. The red wire then feeds up to the patio light just
above the hall switch. The neutral is via a 14/2 between the two
switches (neutral from the outside light also through conduit and tied
into multi-connect along with neutral from patio light.)

The lights stopped working and I have no power to either light, and no
power to either traveler on the slave three way in the garage.
However, both orange wires light up at all times on the master three
way which has the hot for the common! I did many continuity tests -
neither orange traveler shows connectivity between one switch and the
other. I eliminated shorting because none of the orange traveler
wires (from either way) shows continuity to ground. I tested the
switches via the continuity tester and they work fine - continuity is
alternated between non-common terminals.

What could possibly be showing both traveler terminals as hot on the
master 3 way - this should never happen. There is no other switch I
could find that would break the continuity of the travelers. If there
was another switch which was a three way instead of a required 4 way
and the extra traveler was tied, this could cause the hot feed back to
the other traveler on the master, but I don't have any other switches
besides the two.

If anyone can offer any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.
Meanwhile I'll have to tear the house apart locating a junction box or
switch box where the travelers route through.

Thanks very very much for any help you can give!!