bought house strange 3 way light i think...

[chrisnasah]

Hi,

I am new here so i hope someone can help me with my confusion.

I have just bought a house and it seems to have a strange issue, not sure if it is cause by wrong switch or wiring is wrong.

Well this issue is everywhere but here is the issue.

For example, the light in ceiling has two switches, one downstairs and one upstairs. So when i turn on the light from one switch downstairs i can turn it off from upstairs which is great. Now the issue is when someone tries to turn it on again from downstairs switch this does not work until someone turns it on from upstairs and turns off from downstairs.

This is happening on all the so called 3 way switches. What would the issue be... wiring or switch replacement.

Thanks

 

[RF Lighting]

These are two way switches as there are two switches controlling the one light.

It is almost certainly a wiring fault.

It's hard to say without seeing the wiring what the cause might be, but it might be one all or none of the following:

Faulty switch
Incorrect wiring of one switch
Incorrect wiring of both switches
Failed termination at one of the switches
Damaged cable between switch one and switch two
Circuit not intended for two way switching, and an inproper two way added.


If you turn the power off, unscrew the two offending switches, and post them along with as much information as you can then we should be able to give you a much better idea of what the problem is.

 

[mikerodent]

Hi

You should have a three wires connecting switch to switch.

A further two wires from the light point down to one switch.

So if you do not have seven wires in total, you have a wiring problem.

Mike

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Photos of switches and wiring could be helpful or a full description of what you have on the switches. Isolate circuit prior to removing fronts.
It's a two way circuit, some diagrams can be found in WIKI on this type of circuit, which should explain how they work.
//www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:lighting:two_way_lighting

 

[EFLImpudence]

So if you do not have seven wires in total, you have a wiring problem.

Probably - but there are other ways to do it.

 

[securespark]

So if you do not have seven wires in total, you have a wiring problem.

Mike

Appreciate the sentiment, however, there are many different ways to skin a two-way cat.

EDIT: I will keep posting before reading the whole thread...

 

[chrisnasah]

thanks guys for the suggestions and sorry for the late reply.. been very busy going work and still moving stuff to new house.

I will be looking into this issue over the coming weekend hence i will upload some pics of the switch wiring and hopefully this can be resolved. From what i know this Vendor has taken all his switches and replaced with cheap plastic ones hence i think it was wired wrong.

Also other thing i noticed the security lights (flood lights) goes direct to the mains and there is no switch for it. So i now also need to figure out how i connect a switch to it... either cut the wiring going to fusebox and put it a plug or leave it the way it is and put in a switch in between.

Thanks

 

[ban-all-sheds]

From what i know this Vendor has taken all his switches and replaced with cheap plastic ones hence i think it was wired wrong.

Unless he stated before the sale that he would do that he is in breach of contract.