I have an existing 3 way light switch in the basement with a 3 way switch at the bottom and the top of the stairs with 3 cans in the basement hallway. We would like to add some lights to the stairwell and I'm not sure the best place to try and run the wire from.
First switch connects to power, switch then runs to the bottom of the stairs where it connects to another switch. From there the switch is connected to 3 chained can lights.
My question is, can a light be added off of the first switch that also chains to the second switch?
Best Answer
Not without re-running the cable between the switches
Right now, there's no switched hot at the first switch, just a hot, a neutral, and two travelers. You'd need to replace the existing cable between the switches with a 12/4 to get a switched hot to the first switch from the second. At that point, you might as well instead run a cable to the 2nd switch box, or to the light box for that matter.