Three way light switch malfunctioning?

Question

In my home stairway I have two three-way switches the control the stair light. The obvious way they should work is when both switches are either up or down together the light is off. If the switches are opposite (1 off and 1 on) the light is on. But for some reason if any of the two switches are in the Off/Down position then the other switch does not power the light at all. So basically in order for my light to be on both switches have to be in the On/Up position. This seems like a wiring error, is there an easy way to check and fix this without getting an expensive electrician?

Answer 1

You should have them wire like so...

There are three terminals on the switch - one side has one of the terminals only. Power coming in ( black ) goes to the single terminal side of switch #1

Attach a red line and a black line tothe other side ( won't matter which).

On switch #2 Attach the same red & black line to the side with the two terminals..just like before.

Attach a black line to the other side with only one terminal...this goes to your light.

All white wires get spliced together at all points as you go until the final white wire is attached to the light fixture.

in the end the fixture has a white & black wire attached to it.

There really is no " On " & " Off " in these setups.

If switch #1 is up then power comes in and is sent to the top line of switch #2. But if switch #2 is not up then it is down and power reaches a deadend and the light will not light.

So if switch #1 is down then the above situation is reversed..in short if both switches are up or down the light will light. if the switches are opposite of each other the light will not light...

Here is a site saying pretty much the same thttp://www.wfu.edu/~matthews/courses/p23...

Answer 2

Could be wiring pattern, or one of the switches might be bad.  You have 3 screws on the switch, 2 are the same color and one is different.  The wires to the switches should have 2 wires the same color and one which is different.  The odd s***w gets the odd wire.  If this is how they are wired, then get new switches to replace them.  Carefully move the wires over to the new switches.  If this doesn't do it, then you have a problem.

Answer 3

it is a wiring problem..check and see which one is getting the power and then make sure they are in the right place...go to a web site lite hometime.com and they will show you a picture of how to wire it...easier to see then read...good luck