4 way switch

At my FIL's house he had changed the 3&4 ways to sensor swiches by a pro. Weeks later they stopped working. 800 watt sw. Too high a load with the wattage my thought. I found a switch that was closed all the time. The big box was out of stock and supply houses closed on sat. late after noon. He want'ed to change back to 3&4 ways. Hot com. in #1 .3way trav. to #2 &3 all work. the last 3 way just don't make sense. I will go over there and check for a bad sw. tonight. Sw 1.2.and 3 work but last sw 3way is on or off by it self. This is a 4 sw. 4 lamp set up. I think i have a bad sw. lets see what my meter says tonight.

 

Generally all you would need would be a three way sensor for the room. Not sure if changing all of them to sensors had anything to do with it or not. BUT they are picky and do break with overload. If you have 4 switches, you need two three way and two 4 ways, right? Got any wires left over???

 

Yes sw.3 has 5 wires 4 way

 

Also if we just waited for monday and got a new sensor sw. and lowered the load all would have been good. He put faith in me and can't understand Its not easy to change without opening up the light boxes and seeing where the wires go to.

 

We never count the grounding wire, so you are saying two of the switches had 4 wires, right?

 

This is BX. NYC. ..Sw 1 hot com blk. sw 2. 4 way r & b in on brass in r&b out on blk.screws. sw 3 red & blk in on brass out on black screws. all nutrals are wire nutted. the 5 wires in box 3 are a clue to the cause? box 1 .3 way box 2&3 4 way box 4.3 way. Thanks I just need to relate to how it was wired. Brain freeze

 

I'm going over there now. Bad sw. I hope!

 

The switches are good. Switch 1,2,&3 work as they should. Sw.4 a three way only turns on and off the lamp at that level. [3rd floor]. Five wires in box at 2nd level not counting neut. and a unused black and white in box 4 taped off seperately in back of the box.

 

How many 2-conductor BX and how many 3-conductor BX? Are the taped off wires fom the same BX cable?

How did you determine it was a neutral? Was it color only. Color is not a reliable indicator. Where is this wire connected.

Can you post a couple of pictures of the wiring. http://forum.doityourself.com/electr...your-post.html

 

The neutrals are wire nutted together in each box. I think the black and white in the last box are in the same bx. and another 2 wire. black on 3 way com. And another 3 wire rd & blk as travelers white wire nuted to other wh. wire. I am thinking that the sensor switches did not need to use the black and white in the last box. I bet thats where my problem is. and why I have 5 wires in box #3. I won't be back there till Sunday. Thanks.

 

And another thing. I seem to remember a white wire in box 3 taped. The sensor switches only had a black and blue wire at every location. Not 3 or 4 screws. I thought how the heck do the electronics in them know what to turn on or off with the travelers wire nuted together? I'm going to answer my own ? Series.

 

I'm going back over there tomarrow. Last try. Box #3 has two 3wire bx and two 2wire bx. Box #4 has one 3 wire bx and two 2 wire bx... Switches 1,2 &3 work as they should. The sw. and light on third floor only work on the third floor. Thanks for any replies.

 

I found the problem all fixed Thank You.

 

Well, with all the conversations back and forth, and you aren't gonna tell us what it was?????? Not nice.
But glad you got it fixed.

 

I ended up with two hot wires on 3 rd floor. I think the electrcian used the hot at box one just to power the sensor sw. and I thought that was the feed for the entire circut. [both on same leg]. Then I neded to loop the black wire at box three 2nd floor to the switch comm. at box 4 on third floor using the left over black and white wire.