First, disclaimer: Not an electrician. I'm doing a bit of home wiring, and wanted to make sure my setup for a 3 way switch w/ dimmers works. If anyone sees problems, has complaints, knows a more elegant way, etc, please let me know. I'm always willing to take criticism.
So here is what I'm trying to do: There will be three rows of dimmable LED lights. Each row has 3 lights.
Each row needs to be able to be shut off or dimmed independently of the other. Additionally, they must be able to be shut off from another switch that is located elsewhere.
The easiest way I could think of to accomplish this was with another three way switch between the dimmers and other switch. I've attached a tentative diagram of what my plan is; I apologize if the colors are strange, I know neutral is usually white, but I was on a white background so I went with orange.
The remote location is at the bottom of the stairs. There is an open stairwell which leads to a large open format room(as of yet unfinished) where the lights are. Very often I forget to shut off the work light as I leave since I need it to see getting down the stairs. It is similarly convenient to have the lights on in the room going up. Thus one switch at the bottom that I can hit if I'm leaving, or if I'm going up. I did consider using three switches, since it is probably simpler, but it seems silly to put three switches for my use.
I'm not married to the second, regular switch in there. I'm just not exactly sure the best way to make this work without it. If anyone has any pointers for that I'd be really appreciative.
Best Answer
The remote shut-off requirement may cause you to choose between two problems:
#2 can be mitigated, for example by wiring a pilot light at the remote location.
If the remote shut-off can be three switches rather than a single switch that makes things easier. There exist three-way capable dimmers, for instance.
A simpler way to implement this is to use "smart" light switches. The Lutron Caseta family, for example. You could install three Caseta dimmers locally near the lamps and pair each one with a Pico remote installed at the remote location. The Pico remotes won't give you feedback as to whether the lamps are on or off, but you can click the off button of each one to be sure.