3 Way Switch

Status
Not open for further replies.
Dennis Alwon said:
Okay I follow you. I thought you were saying if I wired a pair of 3 way switches to a light so that when they are both down the light is off. Then they could be on when both switches are up given the same installation.

Sorry for the denseness.
Click to expand...

Dennis, actually rereading my posts I see where you are coming from and you are not being dense.

I appologize for not being more clear.

Roger
 
roger said:
Dennis, actually rereading my posts I see where you are coming from and you are not being dense.

I appologize for not being more clear.

Roger
Click to expand...

Thank you. It is always amazing to me how difficult the english language can be. 56 years and it is so hard to get the correct meaning of statements. At least we finally understand the situation.

Your concept of the 3 way makes sense but the 4 ways blow everything to smitherines for any theory when they are introduced. I always tell people 3 ways have 3 terminals and 4 ways have 4 terminals and don't try to understand it.
 
480sparky said:
We call them 3-ways and four-ways as a secret mode of recognition.

HOs and GCs will call them 2-ways, and that's a dead give-away that they don't know electrical.



Ssshhhhh..... keep it a secret, or we'll have to, er, um, well, you know!!:grin:
Click to expand...

Isn't that how kva came in to being? :D
 
Dennis Alwon said:
It is correct if the installation is installed with both switches up and the light off. Then the light would have to be off with both switches were down-- I am talking of a single installation not different wiring scenarios.
Click to expand...
You are right. Now could you explian to my wife why I was walking back and forth, up and down the hall mumbling and scratching my head. Does that make me sane or insane?
 
Dennis Alwon said:
It is always amazing to me how difficult the english language can be.
Click to expand...

Ain't that the truth!!!!! :smile:

And then we have this forum to further get lost in it. :D

Roger
 
chris kennedy said:
You are right. Now could you explian to my wife why I was walking back and forth, up and down the hall mumbling and scratching my head. Does that make me sane or insane?
Click to expand...

It qualifies you as

wacko-lg.gif
 
Hey guys...go easy on each other haha! Let me pose this question:

Which is a harder language to understand, the English language or the NEC language?

Thanks in advance for all the non-sensical replies!!!
 
electricman2 said:
I believe we can get a 10 page thread out of this yet.
Click to expand...
Nope. I’m going to resolve it right here and now. So we won’t get to 10 pages unless you all use them to sing my praises and declare my brilliance. :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

It’s really simple. It is all about the word, “way.” The previous guesses used that word in the context of “method,” as in “my way, and his way, and your way, and the Navy way,” or in the context of “flow path,” as in “from here to there.”

The real answer comes from Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler. . . .
Click to expand...
The word “way” refers to a “road.” Consider yourself walking down one road (in a yellow wood), and coming to a point at which that one road diverges into two roads. You have a choice as to which road to take from there, and your choices include the road that brought you to that point. You’ll have to read the poem, to learn which road the author took.

As you stand at the intersection, and look about you, there are three roads within your field of view. That is a “3-way intersection.” From that point, you can take any one of three “ways.” That is the context in which the phrase “3-way switch,” and the phrase “4-way switch,” derive their meaning. Draw an imaginary circle around a 3-way switch, and place yourself within that circle. There are three “ways,” or “roads” leading to that circle.
 
480sparky said:
I used to drive my brother crazy when we were kids by taking the 3-way on the far side of the room and putting in the 'center' position. This prevented the OTHER 3-way from working at all.
Click to expand...

I'm glad I wasn't the only one!
 
480sparky said:
I used to drive my brother crazy when we were kids by taking the 3-way on the far side of the room and putting in the 'center' position. This prevented the OTHER 3-way from working at all.
Click to expand...

LawnGuyLandSparky said:
I'm glad I wasn't the only one!
Click to expand...

And I still do the same thing to cubbies to this day! :grin:
 
480sparky said:
And I still do the same thing to cubbies to this day! :grin:
Click to expand...

So do I! :grin:

Back when I was a helper, my J-man did this to me, and I started taking everything apart trying to troubleshoot it, when I noticed him snickering...
 
charlie b said:
It’s really simple. It is all about the word, “way.” The previous guesses used that word in the context of “method,” as in “my way, and his way, and your way, and the Navy way,” or in the context of “flow path,” as in “from here to there.”
Click to expand...

Wouldn't the following be the explanation of "way" as "from here to there?"

charlie b said:
The word “way” refers to a “road.” Consider yourself walking down one road (in a yellow wood), and coming to a point at which that one road diverges into two roads. You have a choice as to which road to take from there, and your choices include the road that brought you to that point. You’ll have to read the poem, to learn which road the author took.

As you stand at the intersection, and look about you, there are three roads within your field of view. That is a “3-way intersection.” From that point, you can take any one of three “ways.” That is the context in which the phrase “3-way switch,” and the phrase “4-way switch,” derive their meaning. Draw an imaginary circle around a 3-way switch, and place yourself within that circle. There are three “ways,” or “roads” leading to that circle.
Click to expand...


Either way good analogy. I always like it when people can use one aspect of life to explain another aspect of life.

editing to add Does electricity ever decide to "go back" the way it came?
 
WJR said:
Maybe it has something to do with the number of terminals?

A 3-way switch has 3 terminals and a 4-way switch has 4 terminals.
Click to expand...


Well WJR, I actually researched for the reason why and finally found a source with diagrams which "proves" why the switches are so named. You were the most correct! It has all to do with the number of terminals! 3-ways have three wire terminals and 4-ways have four wire terminals. Source: Wiring Simplified 40th Edition, page 56. Purchased at Home Depot, for $3.50!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top