I have a triple switch plate at my front entrance door. One switch works the porch light, one the inside entryway and the third the outside outlets for xmas lights, or at least it's supposed to. Last year I had an electrician (friend) over and he tinkered with it. He came to the conclusion that one of the outlets on that circuit was mis-behaving. I went through, tripped each one of them on the circuit, took the wires out of the slots and screwed them down to the screws on the outlets. Result, still no luck switch did not work. I get some odd reading from a tester when I turn the switch on and check the outlets, like reverse polarity or something, but it's been awhile for me to remember. I will test them tonight and post more accurate information here tomorrow. I have to get these working by thanksgiving this year and keep the extension cords in the closet. Any ideas where to start, and if you say hire an electrician I'll consider it. Just trying DIY for now.

I apologize for my diagram. The circuit is off that powers my computer with Photoshop, so I had to use paint. :( I'm wondering if I can wire two three way switches and two lights as shown in the diagram. Although it's my first three way switch experience, I'm pretty sure it will work as diagrammed, but I want to also make sure wiring as shown doesn't violate NEC 2008 code -- or professional/good practice wiring. Short story is that I'm replacing all the fabric wrapped 14/2 cables in my house that run lights. The hardest run for a new cable is between this set of three way switches and the basement light. Believe it or not, this is the one and only spot in the lighting circuits that already uses plastic romex cable, so if I can re-use the existing plastic romex cable, I don't have to do the tough run. I wasn't interested in following the original wiring paths, so I ran the two circuits from the panel into the attic. I have a junction box in the attic, corresponding with each switch on the main floor. I'm only dropping down a 12/2 with ground to the switch boxes. Of course, the power source comes to the switch on a white remarked as black, and comes up to the light on the black. The neutral, of course, jumps from the attic junction box's source cable to the neutral on the cable running to the light. That works great, except for this one light (the one in the basement in this diagram) that needs a neutral that I can't easily drop down a cable from the attic to. I had to buy a small amount of 12/3 with ground to replace the old cables between the three way switches. I realized that I have enough 12/3 left over to run from the attic junction box to the three way switch that has the outgoing black common. [U][B]Assuming this wiring will work in the first place, is it OK to wire it this way? Is it OK for me to deviate from my standard wring pattern, and drop a neutral down to the top three way switch box that just passes on to the basement light cable? Am I allowed to do this in the first place? Is it OK to use a 12/3 cable for this purpose -- a neutral going down to branch off to a light, and the black and reds effectively going to the common screws on each of the three way switches? Do I have the uses of red black and white done correctly, or is there a different way required by code or standard practices? (For example, I know that a white remarked as black wire in a 2 conductor cable to a switch has to act as the source for the switch - not sure if I've violated a rule like this in my diagram.)[/B][/U] FAQ's for my post: * Michigan is on NEC 2008 still, so I'm not required to have a neutral at switches. I'm not concerned about future capacity for smart switches. * I left the grounds off my diagram, since those are easy and don't really need to clutter up the diagram. But, all cables I'm using have a ground. * I know I could have used 14 AWG wires instead of 12. * I've put this circuit on a 15A breaker, rather than 20A. The original reason why is because the switches are only rated for 15A, and besides, two 15A circuits is overkill for 9 lights. But, since I'm running on a 15A breaker, using the existing 14/2 cable ran between one of the three way switches and the basement light will be OK. I'll mark in the box that the circuit must be 15A both because the switch limitations, and that 14/2 is used at that one spot in the circuit. [IMG]http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/9503/mikethreewayswitchdiagr.jpg[/IMG]