I am trying to replace my old side by side light switches with new rocker switches. The old switches were single pole, had 2 black wires coming in from the wall and one going in between the switches. The first wire was going to the bottom gold screw on the switches and the second was attached to the top push in contact on the back of the switches. I tried changing them out but now they do not work at all. Not sure what I'm missing here. Help!
Wiring – Switching old light switches with new ones
lightswitchwiring
Related Solutions
What you have is power to the ceiling, and 3-Way switches.
My best guess, is to wire the two blacks together in the ceiling, with a wire nut. One of the whites should be marked. This will go to the Black of the fixture. The other white wire should go to the white of the fixture. And then connect the ground.
So the path will be Panel Hot -> Black wire -> [ Switch Common -> Switch Travellers ->Switch common -> ] WHITE -> Light -> Panel Neutral.
the stuff in Brackets [] is in the wall, and you won't see it.
See this http://diy.blogoverflow.com/2012/01/poles-and-throws/ for more information on 3-way switches.
It sounds like the old switches were hooked up using the bare copper grounding conductor as a grounded (neutral) conductor. This is NOT the proper way to wire this switch. To wire the new switches properly, you'll have to install an additional wire between the switch and the load.
It sounds like you have a situation like this...
But what you need, is something like this...
About the Device
The device you're trying to install has 5 screw terminals. On one side it has 2 COMMON terminals, which are likely either black or brass in color. This side also contains the GROUNDING terminal, which is likely green and located kind of off by itself.
On the other side of the device, there are two screw terminals. The first is the LOAD terminal, and is likely brass in color. The other terminal is the GROUNDED (neutral) terminal, and is probably silver in color.
COMMON
The COMMON terminals are used to supply power to the device. It's typical for only one of the terminals to be connected, but possible that both can be used.
GROUNDING
The GROUNDING terminal is used to connect the device to the equipment grounding system.
LOAD
The LOAD terminal is used to supply power from the switch, to the light or other load that is being controlled by the switch.
GROUNDED
The GROUNDED terminal is used to complete the circuit so the pilot light can be illuminated.
Internally, the switch looks something like this...
Related Topic
- Switch – How to replace light switch that is daisy chained to other light switches
- Switch – Single pole light switch with live wire not terminating
- Wiring – New light switch not working
- How to Replace an Old Light Switch with a New One and Correct Wiring
- Electrical – Help with replacing a light switch
- Electrical – When adding new light to existing lights, only 1 or the other works
- Switch – The strangest 3-way light switches
Best Answer
The wire going between the switches is the hot wire. Verify you still have a hot as if this is missing none of the switches will work.