I have three zones of lighting for my kitchen and three toggle switches (i.e., all single poles). I took the plate off the wall and was a bit confused. I diagrammed the wire arrangement in MS paint (please excuse my artistic ability). The third switch not having a ground was confusing to me, but not that big of a deal since I think I can make do with it. I am confused about the fact that there are only two pairs of wires between the three switches. I do have an electrician, but he'd charge me to come take a look even if it's not possible. Plus there's a minimum and this is a very small job. Can someone explain what I'm looking at?
Here's what I'm thinking of doing (this time just not including the neutrals and ground wires for clarity):
Best Answer
.Here's what it looks like to me:
The black from the left cable is the line hot and it goes to one contact of each on the three switches (bottom contact in your diagram).
The reds are the switched hots of the left and center switches. The other black (right cable) is the switched hot for the right switch.
I think this is a defective arrangement because the net current in each cable is not balanced. Repurposing the currently unused white wires might possibly allow this to be remedied, but I can't see how.