3 way switches

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Dennis Alwon

Dennis Alwon

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Retired Electrical Contractor
What more can be said of 3 way switches??

I believe that most of us here at the forum wire our 3 way switches with a feed at one box and the switch leg at the other with a 3 wire cable between the switches. Yes???

Now If you have 2 sets of 3 way's on both ends of the room feed from one circuit would you wire it as follows? Two 3 wire cables between the switches. Feed at on end and the two switch legs at the other. Yes?

Now the hook up

At the switch leg end of the 3 ways you would connect all the neutrals together. Also you would use a switch leg on each common terminal of the 3 way with the black and red hook to the traveler terminals. Same on the opposite end of the room only the hot wire is connected to the common terminals.

Would we agree that 3 ways are regularly wired this way?
 
Dennis Alwon said:
What more can be said of 3 way switches??

I believe that most of us here at the forum wire our 3 way switches with a feed at one box and the switch leg at the other with a 3 wire cable between the switches. Yes???

Now If you have 2 sets of 3 way's on both ends of the room feed from one circuit would you wire it as follows? Two 3 wire cables between the switches. Feed at on end and the two switch legs at the other. Yes?

Now the hook up

At the switch leg end of the 3 ways you would connect all the neutrals together. Also you would use a switch leg on each common terminal of the 3 way with the black and red hook to the traveler terminals. Same on the opposite end of the room only the hot wire is connected to the common terminals.

Would we agree that 3 ways are regularly wired this way?
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No, not at all. I generall always run my 3 wire to the fixture then to the next switch, it saves on wire and box fill.
 
Most of the time in new construction I'd say yes. Renovations and microlams can quickly make that fly out the window to more unconventional methods to save some wire and time. Tough locations to get to almost always get a dead end 3-way at my shop. Tight boxes dictate that as well sometimes. But generally speaking yes, that is how I first understood 3-ways and how I most often wire them.
 
MF Dagger said:
Also if only one light was on you would have it coming back on both neutrals
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Yes, parallel neutrals. I never realized it. It dawned on me today while I was wiring a house. I must have done this hundreds of times in my life.

Mea cupa
 
Agree With original post

Agree With original post

If you run the job site and are pulling every wire, sure you can pull your 3 wire to the fixture. But if you know how to do that your cost of labor is to high. Plus copper has dropped on the NYMEX this week.
 
Wait, You can front load or back load the service in a three way switching situation! I've missed your thought!

For me, this is always a dedicated application of the required circuits for the service that is not interfaced with neutrals , it just a "dedicated" application.
One brings in the hot to which ever point suits the design/application.

Frankly the neutrals are usually buttoned up and by-pass the the 3-way toggle switch. Line to line not line to common ...
 
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stickboy1375 said:
No, not at all. I generall always run my 3 wire to the fixture then to the next switch, it saves on wire and box fill.
Click to expand...
I disagree on saving on wire. You will save on 14-2 but not 14-3. Box fill is hardly ever an issue for me.
 
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