You cannot use the bare or green grounding conductor instead of a neutral conductor. You will need a white neutral conductor to power the smart switch. That is why it is important to identify the function of the wires for 3-way electrical light switches.Ĭhanging a 3-way switch to a WiFi smart switch can be tricky.
3 way switch code#
There are old existing 3-way electrical switch installations that do not follow accepted industry practice or electrical code requirements. It is best to identify the LINE and the LOAD wires. The original installers used whatever materials and wiring methods were acceptable at the time of installation. You cannot rely entirely on the wire color coding on three-way switch wiring diagrams to figure out what each wire’s function is in an existing 3-way switch installation. The unlabeled brass terminal screws are for the traveler wires to get connected to. The common terminals are the ones with the different color used for LINE and LOAD. for the above photo depicting the common terminals on three-way switches. The backside of two three-way switches with arrows pointing to the common terminal That screw should have either a LINE wire or a LOAD wire connected to it. One screw terminal will be a different color than the other two screw terminals and will be labeled “Common” (See photo below). First thing is to take notice of the color of the screw terminals on the old switch. Wear insulated electrical gloves when working with live electrical circuits.Ĭlick here for my blog post about working around your home safely.ĭo not remove all of the wires from the one three-way switch at once and then try and figure out what each wire is. It is best to remove the suspected hot wire from the screw terminal to test it with a non-contact voltage detector. Non-contact voltage testers may give you false readings due to the proximity of the wires on the switch. Use a voltage tester with two leads or a pigtail light socket with an incandescent or halogen light bulb. The LINE wire will be live (Hot) with electricity at all times regardless of the 3-way switch positions which makes it the easiest to identify. LINE is the power and LOAD goes to the light or other things controlled by the 3-ways. If the 3-way switches were not correctly wired, then you must be very careful to identify the LINE and LOAD wires BEFORE you disconnect the switches. It’s a good idea to replace both switches at the same time as the other one could fail soon after. Please note the different color screw terminals. I usually take one wire off the old switch at a time and put it on the new switch then repeat with the other wires.
If that doesn’t fix it, then change the other one. Due to multiple wires being hot in this particular type of switch wiring it can be a little tricky for an amateur to diagnose which 3-way switch failed.Īssuming that the 3-way switches were wired correctly, I suggest that you change one switch.
Shut off the electrical power for the circuit at the circuit breaker box. One of your three-way switches may have broken down. Two-way electrical light switches and 3-way light switches are the same, they just have different names according to country. As a RedBubble affiliate, I will earn a commission from each item purchased. My three-way switch wiring diagrams are available as stickers from RedBubble. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. NOTE: Some text links below go to applicable products on Amazon. One diagram is above, the rest are below. How do I diagnose and fix this?Īnswer: This blog post has a few different three-way switch wiring diagrams and one 2-way diagram along with some good advice. I find that one switch has to stay in the up position at all times just so the other switch will turn on the light.
I am not sure if they are 3-way switches or 2-way light switches. I have two switches that control one light in my kitchen. Electrician: I need to see some three-way switch wiring diagrams.
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