Mystery 3-way switch

[Laura Wilson]

OK, here’s a good one. It’s got me stumped at least. Digging around in my 100 year old house, removing original wiring, I found a 3-way switch connected into the new wiring. After flipping breakers and checking it out, I found that the wiring is somehow connected to the outlets in the living room and the light switch in the kitchen. That would make sense (as much as an old house can) but the switch also kills power to the lights in the den which are 3-way switched. I did not realize the connection with the kitchen until after I tied both blacks and the red together in a JBox. You guessed it, the kitchen lights ar no linger switched. I want to get rid of this switch undr my house, but I can’t really figure out what is going on. Somebody, ANYBODY email me if you have a clue. Thanks in advance, Laura

[LJ in TX]

Laura, you said that after tying the two blacks and red together in a J box the kitchen are no longer switched ,,,did you mean that the kitchen lights stay on constantly now and the kitchen light switch has no effect on those lights??? therefore I assume you wired the three way switch (under the house!!) back into the circuit to recover kitchen light control! is the switch in the kitchen a three way switch too???

And also ,,,,this three way switch was paired up with another three way switch in the den??? and you have two other three way switches wired up working in the den too???

sorry for all the questions, trying to visualize your wiring diagram sounds like a mess.

LJ

[T.J.]

I wanted to put a dimmer switch in our bathroom, and of course didn’t mark the wires as I took them off. I’ve blown 2 dimmer switches, and spent hours trying different wire combinations. What I have is 1 switch and 2 outlets that seem to be inter-connected. The box containing all the wires is like this….3 groups of 3 wires, each group having (1 stripped copper wire, 1 black wire, and 1 white wire) The switches I have blown both had (1 green and 2 black wires). The funny thing is, even hooking up the blown switches, I can get the outlets to work and the lights to be on, but they stay on, and I can only shut them off with the breaker/fuse box. As you can see, I’m thouroughly confused. Any ideas.

Thank You,

T.J.

[Author]

Posts