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[Sham]

Hi everyone, I'm pretty new to messing with light switches and whatnot and seem to have run into a problem with a 3-way light switch in my house....

In my front hallway there are 2 switches that both control the same light, and it doesn't matter what state the other switch is in, toggling either switch toggles the light.

I tried to install a 3 way switch from x-10 (WS477 + CS277 companion), but no matter what wiring combination I tried, couldn't get it to turn the light on at all.

Bought a multimeter, fumbled around with it... near as i can figure the lights are wired between the 2 switches so there is a load on the travelling wires (although i'm not 100% sure of this, would love to know how to tell for sure - may go buy basic wiring book).

So, I can't get the light to go on at all with the x10 switches both installed... Now i have the WS477 at one switch, and the original non-x10 switch at the other spot.  And as long as the old switch is in the up position, the ws477 controls the light...

Am I making sense?  Any thoughts on how i can get x10 to work in this scenario?  Anything I can do or explain this better?  Is there a different product that would work?

Thanks for your help!
Sham

[TakeTheActive]

...I'm pretty new to messing with light switches and whatnot and seem to have run into a problem with a 3-way light switch in my house....

...I tried to install a 3 way switch from x-10 (WS477 + CS277 companion), but no matter what wiring combination I tried, couldn't get it to turn the light on at all.

Bought a multimeter, fumbled around with it... near as i can figure the lights are wired between the 2 switches so there is a load on the travelling wires (although i'm not 100% sure of this, would love to know how to tell for sure - may go buy basic wiring book)....

Buying a basic wiring book is a good idea - folks with little to no understanding of electricity shouldn't be 'fumbling' around with it - it can kill you; it can set your house on fire; it needs to be respected.

With that out of the way, ADVANCED SEARCH for:

• Archived posts from KDR and/or steven r:
   - IIRC, either one or both of these gentlemen posted excellent wiring diagrams a few (several?) months ago that would serve you well. You need to verify that you have HOT / NEUTRAL / GROUND coming into the box where you install the 'Controlling' Switch - the 'Companion' Switch (in a non-X10 environment) only chooses which of the two wires (UP or DOWN position) to feed the HOT received from the 'Controlling' Switch back to it and thus onto the LOAD. In an X10 environment, it's just a 'push button'.  But, read first - wire later.
  
  
• Archived post from me:
   - I posted a LINK to a NEC (National Electrical Code) Wiki recently
  

PLEASE BE SAFE and STOP FUMBLING - until you get yourself a basic understanding of exactly what potential dangers you're dealing with. 

[Getting ZAPPED, without getting KILLED, a few times certainly gives one a RESPECT for 120VAC.]

[calconinc]

I have the same problem with the 3 ways.  I don't think it is a wiring issue because when I jiggle the switches it comes on.  but I have to jiggle it a few times as if the switch is bad. 

this happened to both 3 ways.  Is this a common problem? 

I used several switches, and they all worked if you jiggle them off and on in a rapid manner. 

Help!

pat

[RCaddict]

Befor you do anything Google 

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.electrical-online.com/Fall203.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.electrical-online.com/3wayvariation2.htm&h=382&w=690&sz=8&tbnid=fDPRyFSxlYxvxM:&tbnh=77&tbnw=139&prev=/images%3Fq%3D3%2Bway%2Bwiring%2Bdiagram%26um%3D1&start=2&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=2