The hot source is spliced to the white wire which should be marked as being hot with black tap and run through to the common terminal of sw1 and from here the hot from the light is spliced through to the common terminal of the second 3 way switch sw2. Take a closer look at a 3 way switch wiring diagram.
3 Way Switches Electrical 101
3 way switch wiring diagram power at light. Turn the power off at circuit breaker. Two wire cable runs from the light to sw1 and 3 wire cable runs between sw1 and sw2. This might seem intimidating but it does not have to be. The hot source wire is spliced at the light box to the white cable wire running to the first switch box. In this diagram the source for the circuit is at the light fixture and the two switches come after. A three way switch is built and wired a little differently than a conventional single pole light switch.
Note that in this case a larger than normal device box is required at switch 1 location due to box fill calculations most regular size boxes will only accommodate five wires. In the ceiling light fixture electrical box one black wire from a 3 way switch gets connected to the black load wire on the light fixture. Three way light switches control a light from two locations such as from both ends of a staircase or hallway. The black wire from the other 3 way gets connected to the line black wire. In this situation you. Pick the diagram that is most like the scenario you are in and see if you can wire your switch.
The black line wire connects to the common terminal of the first 3 way switch. This 3 way switch wiring diagram shows how to wire the switches and the light when the power is coming to the light switch. Interested in a 4 way switch wiring diagram. In this light switch wiring diagram the power feed joins the circuit via the light fixture where a two wire cable c2 runs from the light to the first 3 way switch sw1 and a 3 wire cable c3 joins the two switches. Wiring diagram for a 3 way switch one of the many wiring diagrams showing different methods of wiring a three way switch circuit. In this diagram the incoming hot wire attaches to the first switchs common dark colored terminal.
The first step in any electrical project is to make sure there is no power going to the circuit you plan to be working on. When wiring a 3 way switch circuit all we want to do is to control the black wire hot wire to turn on and off the load from 2 different locations. With these diagrams below it will take the guess work out of wiring. These diagrams illustrate how to wire a pair of three way light switches in three different situations. A 3 wire nm connects the traveler terminals of the first and second 3 way switch together. Typical 3 way switch wiring nm cable in the 1st diagram below a 2 wire nm cable supplies power from the panel to the first switch box.
Red wire power or hot wire black wire power or hot wire white wire neutral bare copper ground. Black wire power or hot wire white wire neutral bare copper ground. In the above 3 way switch wiring diagram at each switch the black wire gets connected to the copper or black screw. 3 way switch wiring with light first. Basic 3 way switch diagram how to wire 3 way light switch step by step. This electrical wiring diagram shows power into light switch box 1 wire to light from switch box 1 and from switch box 1 to three way light switch box 2.
The two hot wires of three wire cable connect to a pair of brass colored traveler terminals on each switch.