You'll probably have to draw this out so I'll explain it to the best of my
ability:



I have an outside light and an inside light connected to a set of 3-way
switches. When switched, both the indoor and outdoor lights go on/off
together.



The 3 way switch in the basement has 1 cable with black, white, and red
connected to the switch. The 3 way switch upstairs (the one in question)
has 4 cables coming into the box and is connected as follows.



Cable 1 (assumed power feed)

- Black connected to different colored terminal on switch

- White twisted together with 2 whites (from cable 2 and cable 3).



Cable 2 (assumed cable from indoor and outdoor lights)

- Black twisted together with black from cable 3 and white from
cable 4.

- White twisted together with 2 whites (from cable 1 and cable 3).



Cable 3 (assumed kitchen light)

- Black twisted together with black from cable 2 and white from
cable 4.

- White twisted together with 2 whites (from cable 1 and cable 2)



Cable 4 (from downstairs 3-way switch)

- Black to terminal on 3-way switch

- Red to terminal on 3-way switch

- White twisted together with 2 blacks (from cable 1 and 2)



My goal is to use a combination 1 single pole and 1 3-way switch to have the
inside light be connected to the 3 way switches and the outside light to be
switched normally from the location in question. The Leviton switch I
bought (CAT 5241) works such that the top switch is a 3-way and the bottom
is a single pole standard switch.



When I wired up the new switches, I didn't realize that the kitchen light
was involved. I assumed the 4 cables were incoming power, link to 3-way
switch in basement, outside light, inside light. It appears that I was
wrong because now I have a mess (top switch controls inside and outside
lights in conjunction with 3 way switch downstairs, bottom switch controls
kitchen light based on the state of the top switch). Although the set of
3-way switches (switch in basement and top switch upstairs) is behaving
correctly, the inside and outside lights still go on/off together. My new
assumption is the outside light is wired to the inside light and comes down
from the inside light to the 3 way switch as cable 2. I'm guessing that
cable 3 is from the kitchen light.



Do my assumptions make sense? Without running more cable, is there
accomplish what I want?



Thanks everyone for reading such a long post.

You have at least one error. You say that the cable1 black goes to the
switch, but that the cable4 white is attached to the Cable1 black.
the cable1 black can't go to both the switch and the cable4 white.

"RB" wrote in message
...
You'll probably have to draw this out so I'll explain it to the best of my
ability:



I have an outside light and an inside light connected to a set of 3-way
switches. When switched, both the indoor and outdoor lights go on/off
together.



The 3 way switch in the basement has 1 cable with black, white, and red
connected to the switch. The 3 way switch upstairs (the one in question)
has 4 cables coming into the box and is connected as follows.



Cable 1 (assumed power feed)

- Black connected to different colored terminal on switch

- White twisted together with 2 whites (from cable 2 and cable 3).



Cable 2 (assumed cable from indoor and outdoor lights)

- Black twisted together with black from cable 3 and white from
cable 4.

- White twisted together with 2 whites (from cable 1 and cable 3).



Cable 3 (assumed kitchen light)

- Black twisted together with black from cable 2 and white from
cable 4.

- White twisted together with 2 whites (from cable 1 and cable 2)



Cable 4 (from downstairs 3-way switch)

- Black to terminal on 3-way switch

- Red to terminal on 3-way switch

- White twisted together with 2 blacks (from cable 1 and 2)



My goal is to use a combination 1 single pole and 1 3-way switch to have
the
inside light be connected to the 3 way switches and the outside light to
be
switched normally from the location in question. The Leviton switch I
bought (CAT 5241) works such that the top switch is a 3-way and the bottom
is a single pole standard switch.



When I wired up the new switches, I didn't realize that the kitchen light
was involved. I assumed the 4 cables were incoming power, link to 3-way
switch in basement, outside light, inside light. It appears that I was
wrong because now I have a mess (top switch controls inside and outside
lights in conjunction with 3 way switch downstairs, bottom switch controls
kitchen light based on the state of the top switch). Although the set of
3-way switches (switch in basement and top switch upstairs) is behaving
correctly, the inside and outside lights still go on/off together. My new
assumption is the outside light is wired to the inside light and comes
down
from the inside light to the 3 way switch as cable 2. I'm guessing that
cable 3 is from the kitchen light.



Do my assumptions make sense? Without running more cable, is there
accomplish what I want?



Thanks everyone for reading such a long post.

Toller is right. You should have a load wire to feed the lights if they
operated correctly prior to your changes. To put it in your terms: The
white from cable 4 should connect to the black of cable 2. I'm assuming
that the black and red of cable 4 are being used as the travelers and the
white is connected to the black terminal on the other 3-way switch..

In answer to your question, you will need to run a 2 wire to feed the one
light that you want on a separate switch.


John Grabowski
http://www.mrelectrician.tv



"toller" wrote in message
...
You have at least one error. You say that the cable1 black goes to the
switch, but that the cable4 white is attached to the Cable1 black.
the cable1 black can't go to both the switch and the cable4 white.

"RB" wrote in message
...
You'll probably have to draw this out so I'll explain it to the best of
my
ability:



I have an outside light and an inside light connected to a set of 3-way
switches. When switched, both the indoor and outdoor lights go on/off
together.



The 3 way switch in the basement has 1 cable with black, white, and red
connected to the switch. The 3 way switch upstairs (the one in
question)
has 4 cables coming into the box and is connected as follows.



Cable 1 (assumed power feed)

- Black connected to different colored terminal on switch

- White twisted together with 2 whites (from cable 2 and cable
3).



Cable 2 (assumed cable from indoor and outdoor lights)

- Black twisted together with black from cable 3 and white from
cable 4.

- White twisted together with 2 whites (from cable 1 and cable
3).



Cable 3 (assumed kitchen light)

- Black twisted together with black from cable 2 and white from
cable 4.

- White twisted together with 2 whites (from cable 1 and cable
2)



Cable 4 (from downstairs 3-way switch)

- Black to terminal on 3-way switch

- Red to terminal on 3-way switch

- White twisted together with 2 blacks (from cable 1 and 2)



My goal is to use a combination 1 single pole and 1 3-way switch to have
the
inside light be connected to the 3 way switches and the outside light to
be
switched normally from the location in question. The Leviton switch I
bought (CAT 5241) works such that the top switch is a 3-way and the
bottom
is a single pole standard switch.



When I wired up the new switches, I didn't realize that the kitchen
light
was involved. I assumed the 4 cables were incoming power, link to 3-way
switch in basement, outside light, inside light. It appears that I was
wrong because now I have a mess (top switch controls inside and outside
lights in conjunction with 3 way switch downstairs, bottom switch
controls
kitchen light based on the state of the top switch). Although the set
of
3-way switches (switch in basement and top switch upstairs) is behaving
correctly, the inside and outside lights still go on/off together. My
new
assumption is the outside light is wired to the inside light and comes
down
from the inside light to the 3 way switch as cable 2. I'm guessing that
cable 3 is from the kitchen light.



Do my assumptions make sense? Without running more cable, is there
accomplish what I want?



Thanks everyone for reading such a long post.

You are correct. Cable 4 white is attached to cable 2 and cable 3 black.
Cable 1 black does feed the switch terminal that is different colored than
the other two.

"toller" wrote in message
...
You have at least one error. You say that the cable1 black goes to the
switch, but that the cable4 white is attached to the Cable1 black.
the cable1 black can't go to both the switch and the cable4 white.

"RB" wrote in message
...
You'll probably have to draw this out so I'll explain it to the best of
my
ability:



I have an outside light and an inside light connected to a set of 3-way
switches. When switched, both the indoor and outdoor lights go on/off
together.



The 3 way switch in the basement has 1 cable with black, white, and red
connected to the switch. The 3 way switch upstairs (the one in
question)
has 4 cables coming into the box and is connected as follows.



Cable 1 (assumed power feed)

- Black connected to different colored terminal on switch

- White twisted together with 2 whites (from cable 2 and cable
3).



Cable 2 (assumed cable from indoor and outdoor lights)

- Black twisted together with black from cable 3 and white from
cable 4.

- White twisted together with 2 whites (from cable 1 and cable
3).



Cable 3 (assumed kitchen light)

- Black twisted together with black from cable 2 and white from
cable 4.

- White twisted together with 2 whites (from cable 1 and cable
2)



Cable 4 (from downstairs 3-way switch)

- Black to terminal on 3-way switch

- Red to terminal on 3-way switch

- White twisted together with 2 blacks (from cable 1 and 2)



My goal is to use a combination 1 single pole and 1 3-way switch to have
the
inside light be connected to the 3 way switches and the outside light to
be
switched normally from the location in question. The Leviton switch I
bought (CAT 5241) works such that the top switch is a 3-way and the
bottom
is a single pole standard switch.



When I wired up the new switches, I didn't realize that the kitchen
light
was involved. I assumed the 4 cables were incoming power, link to 3-way
switch in basement, outside light, inside light. It appears that I was
wrong because now I have a mess (top switch controls inside and outside
lights in conjunction with 3 way switch downstairs, bottom switch
controls
kitchen light based on the state of the top switch). Although the set
of
3-way switches (switch in basement and top switch upstairs) is behaving
correctly, the inside and outside lights still go on/off together. My
new
assumption is the outside light is wired to the inside light and comes
down
from the inside light to the 3 way switch as cable 2. I'm guessing that
cable 3 is from the kitchen light.



Do my assumptions make sense? Without running more cable, is there
accomplish what I want?



Thanks everyone for reading such a long post.

Where does the kitchen light fit into it? Before you intervened, did it go
on and off with the other two lights? You only mentioned a pair of 3way
switchs, did the kitchen light have a different switch?

Also, identify for sure where the blacks on cable 2 and 3 go; that is simply
a matter of connecting them one at a time and seeing what lights work.

Sorry, I didn't want it to get too confusing...

Before I intervened, the kitchen light worked from another switch. Now, in
order to turn the kitchen light on, the set of switchs have to be on and
then the real switch for the kitchen light will work.


"toller" wrote in message
...
Where does the kitchen light fit into it? Before you intervened, did it
go
on and off with the other two lights? You only mentioned a pair of 3way
switchs, did the kitchen light have a different switch?

Also, identify for sure where the blacks on cable 2 and 3 go; that is
simply
a matter of connecting them one at a time and seeing what lights work.

Okay, it makes sense now.
Cable 2 or 3 goes to the kitchen light. It is connected to cable 4, so it
is on the switches. It should be (and presumably was) off the hot on cable
1.

Sadly, John was right; you will have to run a new cable to one of the
lights; it doesn't matter which. They are now on the same branch, and you
have to separate them.

Hi.

I've got a CAD drawing of the circuit (that I can turn into a jpeg if need
be) that I can send along if you're interested. My biggest problem is I'm
having a hard time tracing how the kitchen light gets power (actually, the
more I think about it the more confused I get). New installations of 3-way
switches are easier for me to grasp, but trying to troubleshoot existing
wiring (that may or may not follow standards) are leaving me a bit confused.

If I'm bothering you, by all means tell me to get lost. I'm just trying to
avoid burning my house down


"toller" wrote in message
...
Okay, it makes sense now.
Cable 2 or 3 goes to the kitchen light. It is connected to cable 4, so it
is on the switches. It should be (and presumably was) off the hot on
cable
1.

Sadly, John was right; you will have to run a new cable to one of the
lights; it doesn't matter which. They are now on the same branch, and you
have to separate them.

The kitchen light, cable 2 or 3, was attached to cable 1 for power. It then
went to the light and the other switch. You connected it to cable 4, so the
other switchs also had to be on.

As I suggested before, disconnect cables 3 and 4 one at a time, and make
sure what they actually power. A CAD drawing isn't useful if you are not
sure what the cables do.