Tried to swap a dimmer and a 3-Way. Didn't work.
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 1
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
Tried to swap a dimmer and a 3-Way. Didn't work.
Hi all,
I tried to do something that I thought would be straightforward, but it didn't work quite as I expected. Looking to figure out what went wrong and what I've overlooked.
I have a set of can lights and a set of pendant lights in my kitchen. Each have two sets of switches next to each other at opposite ends of the room (Left Side and Right Side).
The Pendant lights are on a dimmer on the Right Side. They can also be turned on/off by the switch Left Side of the Room (I assume this is a 3-Way switch).
The can lights can be turned on/off by a switch at both the Left and Right Side (I assume these are both 3-Way switches as well).
I wanted to make it so that the dimmer switch would control the cans instead of the pendants, so I decided to swap the two switches on the Right side. That didn't work. The cans didn't turn on at all. The Pendant lights would only work when using the switch on the Left side of the room.
So to be consistent, I tried swapping the switches on the Left side as well. Now the switches on the Left side would turn their respective lights on and off, but the ones on the right side would not. I've attached a crude diagram of the setup and what I tried to do. I'd like to know where I went wrong and what I'd need to do to do this swap properly.
*I did make sure I put dimmable bulbs in the cans before testing, so I know that's not the issue.*
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,
I tried to do something that I thought would be straightforward, but it didn't work quite as I expected. Looking to figure out what went wrong and what I've overlooked.
I have a set of can lights and a set of pendant lights in my kitchen. Each have two sets of switches next to each other at opposite ends of the room (Left Side and Right Side).
The Pendant lights are on a dimmer on the Right Side. They can also be turned on/off by the switch Left Side of the Room (I assume this is a 3-Way switch).
The can lights can be turned on/off by a switch at both the Left and Right Side (I assume these are both 3-Way switches as well).
I wanted to make it so that the dimmer switch would control the cans instead of the pendants, so I decided to swap the two switches on the Right side. That didn't work. The cans didn't turn on at all. The Pendant lights would only work when using the switch on the Left side of the room.
So to be consistent, I tried swapping the switches on the Left side as well. Now the switches on the Left side would turn their respective lights on and off, but the ones on the right side would not. I've attached a crude diagram of the setup and what I tried to do. I'd like to know where I went wrong and what I'd need to do to do this swap properly.
*I did make sure I put dimmable bulbs in the cans before testing, so I know that's not the issue.*
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,
#2
But what about the common? You did swap common to common terminal on the switch didn't you. Remember the position of the common can be different on different switches so you must go by which screw is the odd colored screw not position of the screw..
#3
How about some pic's of each set of switches,what color conductors are at each location take 1 set of 3waysat a time.
Geo
Geo