My house is circa 1910 and I dont really know how old the wiring is in it. I am trying to swap a 3 way light switch with a 3 way dimmer (Lutron CL Dimmer). I killed the power and pulled the switch out. I expected 4 wires and I only saw 3. One was green and it looked like the other two were black. Does anyone know how to connect my 4 wire dimmer to the 3 wires? I expect the green is the ground, are the other two the travelers?
Wiring – Install Dimmer Switch in Old House
dimmer-switchwiring
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Why would you replace a single pole dimmer with a 3-way switch?? I pity the next person who tries to figure out what the heck is going on with this.
Correct replacement would have been - leave the wires that are connected to each other connected to each other. Remove dimmer with one in, one out - replace with switch with one in, one out, connecting wall wires just as they were connected to the dimmer.
What you are looking for is a single-pole, 2-wire dimmer. That's a fairly standard item. An indicator light is a little less common, but not impossible to find.
Since you only have 2 conductors in the switch box, your switch is probably wired like this:
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So it sounds like you have the wrong number of wires for your switch to have ever worked properly by your description, from the way that I read it.
SO I will try to understand. When you took off your three way switch was there three screws with three wires going to it? Plus perhaps your box is metal and has a bare ground screw at the back, or a bare ground somewhere as well as the other three wires?
Your house is really old but should have had an electrical upgrade. So I am assuming your cable has a separate, bare ground screw?
I am trying to see if perhaps the insulated(?) green wire you see is actually just a traveller for some sort of reason. And maybe there is another wire for the ground in the box.
Not knowing when your house was re wired last (since I am sure you do not have knob and tube) is making me wonder what the cables have inside them.
Could you please state what was on the original three way switch? Because those should be the wires you use for your new switch. I just want to make sure your bonded (grounded for simpler terms) properly.