Adamjamma
Senior Member
- Location
- Jamaica and london
Ok, I have a complicated design that I am trying to figure out for a customer in a house in Jamaica. Told my architect friend I would take a look at what his customer wants and see what could be done...
Customer wants 4 bedrooms to all control one set of hall lights, and also have other lights in rooms on four ways, etc...
Now, I normally, in US, would just run 3 wire plus grounds for the 3 and 4 way travellers, from switch to switch, with the power run on its own... but in Jamaica we have to figure out conduits paths, least amount of conduits, etc.
Got to thinking and am probably wrong, but...
The common that I run with the two travelers and the ground between switch locations, that is simply a neutral, right?
So if I am running a neutral, live and ground for feeding other switches in the same conduit, do I need the common? Or the Ground, for the three way or four way circuit? Because I already have the ground and neutral from the same breaker in the conduits for feeding the power to the other switches?
I mean, I know that if I am running a system where I have lighting circuits coming from different breakers I run separate boxes usually to make sure I do not cross the neutral and ground ... like whe I run stairs lighting and hallway lighting, stairs is kept separate...
But, if all the circuits are on same breaker, then isn't the neutral and ground the same? Thus the common is the same as the neutral for all the lights?
Or am I thinking too much and just need to put in the bigger conduit? In one spot, sharing the neutral and the commons would save me three wires in the conduit...lol...
Customer wants 4 bedrooms to all control one set of hall lights, and also have other lights in rooms on four ways, etc...
Now, I normally, in US, would just run 3 wire plus grounds for the 3 and 4 way travellers, from switch to switch, with the power run on its own... but in Jamaica we have to figure out conduits paths, least amount of conduits, etc.
Got to thinking and am probably wrong, but...
The common that I run with the two travelers and the ground between switch locations, that is simply a neutral, right?
So if I am running a neutral, live and ground for feeding other switches in the same conduit, do I need the common? Or the Ground, for the three way or four way circuit? Because I already have the ground and neutral from the same breaker in the conduits for feeding the power to the other switches?
I mean, I know that if I am running a system where I have lighting circuits coming from different breakers I run separate boxes usually to make sure I do not cross the neutral and ground ... like whe I run stairs lighting and hallway lighting, stairs is kept separate...
But, if all the circuits are on same breaker, then isn't the neutral and ground the same? Thus the common is the same as the neutral for all the lights?
Or am I thinking too much and just need to put in the bigger conduit? In one spot, sharing the neutral and the commons would save me three wires in the conduit...lol...