3 way switching

[al hildenbrand]

I have forgotten where Al said he seen it?

I honestly don't recall seeing the diagram anywhere. I do remember the certainty handed to me by the Master, who apprenticed me, that you could wire a threeway, complete, with two conductor + ground NM. Once, years later, when I finally was able to hold the California threeway in my head, I was finally able to jot off the 14/2 threeway solution that you show on the post-it that I drew it on. When I drew that post-it I was answering a challenge from another Forum member to wire such a hookup only with two conductor NM.

And then there's this old chestnut:

 

[guschash]

I see it a lot in old farm houses around here. Really a pain until you understand what you're looking at.

 

[tallgirl]

They're not installed any more because they break so many NEC articles.

Today, you would need 4 conductors (plus ground) to accomplish this legally. "Back in the day", someone figured out how to do it with just 3.

Works just fine with 3 conductors.

And a pair of Z-wave enabled switches

 

[kwired]

Works just fine with 3 conductors.

And a pair of Z-wave enabled switches

If Z-wave is what I think it is, it should work just fine with 2 conductors.

 

[480sparky]

Works just fine with 3 conductors.

And a pair of Z-wave enabled switches

Would have been hard to find back in the 30's.