3-way switch w/dimmer - is this right?


  #1  
Old 07-12-05, 08:45 PM
Maltose
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3-way switch w/dimmer - is this right?

I installed recessed lights in my kitchen I am remodeling and am controlling them with a regular 3-way switch and a dimmer 3-way. The instructions say only one 3-way dimmer per circuit. The circuit doesn't work like a 3-way circuit I am used to though. The lights seem controlled by the dimmer and not both equally.
If I turn the lights on with the dimmer, the regular switch will turn off the lights and then on again.
If I turn the lights off with the dimmer, the regular switch does nothing.
I had a regular 3-way switch in place instead of the dimmer and the circuit seemed to work normally.
Is a dimmer controlled, 3-way circuit supposed to act like this? The dimmer is a Lutron S-603PH.
Thanks
 
  #2  
Old 07-12-05, 09:39 PM
R
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I believe you have miswired the dimmer. Did you connect the wire that was connected to the dark screw of the 3-way switch you removed to the common wire (usually red) of the dimmer? One configuration that would cause this is if power comes into the light first and then goes to the switches before coming back to the light, if you connect the common of the dimmer in error to a traveler to the other three way you would get the results you describe.
 
  #3  
Old 07-13-05, 06:40 AM
J
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Roger is correct. You did not correctly move the common wire from the old 3-way to the 3-way dimmer. If you have no idea how the old switch was connected, you can solve this by trial and error. You will get it in three tries or less.
 
  #4  
Old 07-14-05, 07:01 AM
Maltose
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Thanks. That was the problem - switched a traveler with the common.
 
 

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