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(Answer) (Category) Home Automation FAQ : (Category) Wiring : (Category) Electrical :
3 way switch install problems
I have a brand new 3 way switch kit (master and slave). The problem is that the master will turn the loghts on and off , but the slave will only turn the lighs off NOT on. The wires coming out of your swich are re and 2 blues for the slave and a red black and blue on the master.

I am currently connected on the master as follows:

MASTER    HOUSE WIRING
RED           RED
BLACK        BLACK
BLUE         WHITE
 
SLAVE     HOUSE WIRING
RED           RED    
BLUE         BLACK
BLUE         WHITE
THE FIRST INSTALLATION OF THE 3 WAYS WENT FINE, I ALSO TESTED THE SLAVE WITH AN OHMMETER, THE CICUIT CLOSED WHEN I PRESSES THE BUTTON. I TRIED SWITCHING THE MASTER SLAVE LOCATIONS BUT IT DIDNT HELP. ANY SUGGESTIONS?
I assume you are talking about X-10 switches here. The wiring of the switches depends on how the electrician wired your 3-way light since it can be done multiple ways.

Many electricians will run power to the lamp itself and then will run a 2 conductor cable to the switch setup with the black wire connected to hot and the white wire connected to the lamp (with the other side of the lamp wired to neutral) Don't treat this color coding as gospel as I've seen some runteh HOT over white with the lamp connected to black! Most electricians wiring a lamp this way will wrap a strip of black tape around any white conductor carrying hot (switched or not) You likely have this seutp if you have a total of 8 conductors in the master & slave boxes (Red/White/Black in one and Red/2 Whites/2 Blacks in the other)

If you have 10 conductors total (5 - 1 Red/2 Blacks/2 Whites in each box), the electrician ran power to the switch box and then runs switched power to the lamp. An indicator of this is if the white conductors are tied together in each box (there should be 2 Whites in each box)

OK. So, if you have 8 conductors total, the 2 conductor black/white cable brings power from the lamp and carries switched power back. Wire the switches as follows:

  1. Put master switch in box with 5 wires.
  2. Master BLUE wire goes to Black conductor from 2-conductor cable
  3. Master Red wire goes to Red conductor from 3-conductor cable
  4. Master Black wire goes to Black conductor from 3-conductor (Red/Black/White) cable
  5. White conductor from 2-conductor cable goes to White conductor from 3-conductor (Red/Black/White) cable
  6. Now install the slave switch in box with only 3 wires
  7. Red Slave wire to Red conductor
  8. One blue wire to Black conductor
  9. Other blue wire to White conductor

If you have 10 conductors total:

  1. Leave the white wires tied together - this is neutral
  2. Install master switch in electrical box with hot feed, slave goes in the box with the cable going to the lamp. However, if you can't tell which is which, it should not matter if you swap them.
  3. Each box will have a 3 wire cable (Red/White/Black) and 2 wire cable (White/Black)
  4. In box with master switch, Master Switch Red goes to Red Conductor
  5. Master Switch Blue goes to Black conductor from 2-conductor cable
  6. Master Switch Black goes to Black conductor from 3-condcutor cable
  7. In box with slave switch, Slave Switch Red goes to red conductor
  8. One Slave Blue goes to Black conductor from 2-conductor cable
  9. The other blue goes to Black conductor from 3-conductor cable

More information can be found in the X-10 3-Way switch manual

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