I have power in light fixture with 2 way switches for stairs, how do I know which wires to connect & where?

Question

I have 3 way switches but they only work when the switches are in certain positions. 3 cloth wires from downstairs go to upstairs switch, 1 to neutral, 1 to hot, and 1 tied to go to the light fixture. There is 1 wire connected to the hot side of the upstairs switch that runs seperately but in the same conduit as the wire from downstairs. Heres the killer;

the fixture - conduit with 2 wires from the upstairs switch and a conduit with 2 whites and 1 red wire and another conduit with a black and white wire. How do i check which wires to use (hot and neutral), including checking the downstairs wire that goes to the fixture (I dont want to ASSUME it is a wire connected to the hot side because they are cloth)? All I have is a circuit tester that lights up.How do the wires connect inside the light fixture? My uneducated guess is the downstairs wire to the hot power, upstairs wire to hot fixture and neutral power wire to neutral fixture wire. HHHHHEEEEELLLLPPPPPP!!

Answer 1

Call a professional electrician to do the work.  You need a proper voltage tester for this job. You also need the knowledge and experience to do it.  If you must DIY, the hot goes to the common of the switch, the 2 travelers go on the other terminals. In the other switch, the travelers go on the 2 terminals that are not the common. The lead to the light goes on the common on the 2nd switch. The neutrals are unswitched at all times.  Call a qualified professional electrician.

Answer 2

If you need to ask here then for safety's sake, get someone else to do it. You dont want to burn your house down!

Answer 3

i am very confused by your question but the other answer that was left made some sense but in my opinion get an electrician i am an electrician and i can tell you that if you dont need any material it should cost you that much me personally i'd charge you anywhere between 40-80 bucks to do it so its not worth it to do it yourself