Travellers, Common, and separate power in same conduits

[Gary11734]

Didn't Fred Flintstone have those receivers mounted on the cave wall?

You are 64 million years younger than the dinosaurs. Cool.
So you belong to the Flintrock quarry rock band then.?

Fred Flintstone's receivers were mounted on the wall with rare earth neodymium magnets for easy removal.
There were no cheap Chinese velcro then.

You're OK, myspark. Like me, you would be a big pain in the ass on job sites! We would get along famously!

Gary

 

[Adamjamma]

You get a .pdf or .dwg drawing from your architect and I will help you if you like.

Worst-case scenario, based on what you have in mind, 3/4". But, if you are combining more than one circuit that ends up in another part of the house, no way I could guarantee it being right.

OK, How many 3- ways will you be using, which will be two per switch light, fan, or receptacle on the same switches? That will give us a better idea.

You can chain a thousand four ways with two 3-ways. So, knowing the number of 3-ways would clue us into what he's doing. Remember, two 3 ways make a set. Do not let the four ways get you confused. They just break the traveler wires anywhere between the two three ways to do the switching.

Actually, that is the section I am most familiar with, having grown up rewiring N guage train tracks and the old racing car sets as well into big layouts in New Jersey with one of the clubs there... lol.. used to have as many as eight operations boards so one could wander around the track and still operate the different areas... Just always thought of the travelers and commons as a standard and got to wondering why I dont do it simply as a remote instead... since I am feeding each circuit from one end and then using the other end for the lighting...

Of course, labels is going to be very necessary... on the conduits as construction happens, in the boxes, etc... otherwise will end up with conduits going to the wrong places. If I was in USA would use those colored conduits for the different runs... but in Ja all conduits are white... all water pipes are white.. so only going to be spray painting conduits to color code them..lol...
Should be fun but when it is done should be a nice payoff... thinking this job might pay for my house to finish..lol.

 

[Adamjamma]

Jamaica Does it have "american style" (110v) wiring or "European Style"(230v) wiring ????

Hmm.. USA 120/240 but 50 Hz... Loads of people wanting 230 single phase as well... European style... depending upon country they are from will tell you what outlet you will install...Have installed British, French and German gear here... using Step Up Transformers sometimes or using Solar transverter systems as well... Usually the gear they bring with them is the same stuff I would bring... Kitchen gadgets from France, Tools in the Workshop, Dishwasher and Washer... all because the European stuff heats its own water and once you get used to leaving the front loader open after use for a few hours, it seems like it cleans better... Plus, it has been designed to use low pressure from attic tanks as well... so the systems sense the water pressure.

Wires here and conduit usually Metric and marked with European Codes on them...
So I have my onsite guide and my NEC with me always..lol... Because there is a difference between 12 g and 2.5mm and between 15mm conduit and 1/2 inch conduit...

Actually, I feel sometimes the British Calculations is safer to use, though it takes longer sometimes to do..lol...
But, Ja is going to adopt the NEC, or so they have been saying for the last 7 years.

 

[sameguy]

7 years then they are 2 cycles behind already!

 

[Strathead]

Draw how you are going to run the conduit from point to point. We can help you with the wiring... Post the pictures and I can AutoCad the thing for you with wire counts per pipe. No way I can figure out what you are trying to do or counts in the pipe if I don't know the final piping scheme or intent of the owner

Gary has it right and this is a great offer. We can tell you how the wires hook up schematically, but if that doesn't tell you what wires you need in what conduit then we can't help without the actual conduit routing. Your fist post is not exactly right. Electrically you have to look at three way and four way switches separately.
3-way switches have power from the panel coming in one end, two wires between them we call travelers, and a switch leg coming out the other end. When you do a house in romex you usually do as you said, run 3 wire looped through. That third wire is not always the neutral though. It can be the hot, the neutral or the switch leg, depending on how you twist the wire nuts together and which end you feed the lights from.

4-way switches merely intercept the travelers so they require four wires to them 2 in and 2 out. But since, in a house you are "carrying" one of the above wires through, you run 3 wire each way.

In most conduit situations, you will have one conduit running to a four way that is "junctioned" So that conduit will only get the 4 wires and the ground as discussed.

Regarding you fundamental question of whether you have to run the neutral with the other conductors, the answer is more complicated than yes or no. The neutral has to share the path with the hot, and/or switch leg, but not when it is going to a control device. The intent of the code is that you don't have the hot traveling one way around the house and the neutral traveling another.

Hope this helps. Again, take Gary up on his suggestion.