A three way switch is a lighting circuit or a circuit that powers up a receptacle, with 2 or more switches. The switch is a special one with an extra terminal.
- A simple way to explain this is the power comes into one of the switch boxes. and powers up the switch with the black wire.
- Then there is a 3 wire that travels from this switch to the other three way switch. Black to the other brass terminal, white to the other white wire, ground to the ground terminal and the red wire to the odd colored screw.
- Same on the other switch except the power wires go to the light fixture.
- If there is more than three switches the middle switches are called four way switches and will have another terminal for the white wire as the 3 way wire just passes through this box and on to the end box that has the fixture wires.
Whew! I hope I got this right!! The wiring diagram is usually on a piece of paper inside the box the switch comes in. Any questions or if you are not sure what to do, ask an electrician to help you out. |
