Anybody here have any residential electrical experience

MOUNT

Active Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2016
Location
Near URE
I have an issue I need help with. The exterior lights on my garage are operated with a switch in the house or a switch in the garage. I want to get rid of the switch in the garage. I have already disconnected it. How do I hook the wires that I disconnected from the switch back together so the light still operates with the switch in the house?

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Cap off one of the runners, tie the other two together...not the ground of course
 
Take the switch you are eliminating and tie all 3 wires together.
Go to the other switch box.
Then take the switch you are keeping out and replace it with a standard (non 3 way) switch.
Tie the two "travelers " together and place them one side of the new standards switch.
 
Last edited:
doc said:
Cap off one of the runners, tie the other two together...not the ground of course
Click to expand...

Or this..if you can identify the same travelers on both ends...which is easy if it was wires bybsomeone with a brain initially.
 
Or,
Flip the switch down.
Put duct tape over the switch so it cant be flipped back up.
Drink beer
 
It depends on if it’s wired switch, switch, fixture VS switch, fixture, switch on which one the traveler wires will be... but other than that you just need to make your now only existing 3 way switch into a 1 way switch without a traveler wire. Get your meter out and see where voltage is, or isn’t. You may have to make the first junction box “always hot” with some wire nuts and delete that switch entirely
 
336wheeler said:
Get your meter out
Click to expand...


Yeah....see, something tells me you've already started talking over OP's comfort level at this point. (not that Doc and Ron didn't already flex enough to rip their shirts right off the bat :lol:)

Gotta remember to K.I.S.S. for the rest of us :huggy:
 
Ron said:
Take the switch you are eliminating and tie all 3 wires together.
Go to the other switch box.
Then take the switch you are keeping out and replace it with a standard (non 3 way) switch.
Tie the two "travelers " together and place them one side of the new standards switch.
Click to expand...
Did this...and now the garage lights stay on whether switch is on or off

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Hope this helps
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Hell, in our house in NC there was a blank (flat plate, no device) on the wall. One day I got curious and opened it up.
Inside, there was a 3 way switch, that had been taped into position, then wrapped all up in electrical tape to cover the poles, and shoved into the box and covered w/ the plate. I'm not saying thats the right (code) thing to do but the result is exactly the same.

But all that aside, I think something isn't being communicated right there.
How many wires are going to the light? Is it a white and a black? And is the main circuit coming from the house switch, or from the garage switch?
 
@MOUNT can you take a picture of the inside of the junction box instead?

One of the black wires will be the actual power wire, then the black/white combo is likely the travelers. You just need one hot wire going to the switch you aren’t deleting, on the line side of a 1-way switch. Then the light’s hot wire on the old side of the switch. Your lights neutral will have a white wire - don’t confuse it with the white traveler wire


Long of the short - you need to delete the first switch and traveler wire, to the point where the “new” switch box just has a hot and neutral going to them.
 
Also - disconnect all the black wires going to the first switch. When its disconnected then you’ll be able to test which black wire has line voltage. Once you identify line voltage, work from there.
 
336wheeler said:
Also - disconnect all the black wires going to the first switch. When its disconnected then you’ll be able to test which black wire has line voltage. Once you identify line voltage, work from there.
Click to expand...
this is the key. You really need to know which of the two switches is receiving the power. Basically is it powered from the housed and an extra switch at teh garage, or is it powered from garage and extra switch at the house.
 
RatLabGuy said:
this is the key. You really need to know which of the two switches is receiving the power. Basically is it powered from the housed and an extra switch at teh garage, or is it powered from garage and extra switch at the house.
Click to expand...
So if I unhook the switch at the house and I still have power at the light then it's powered at the garage...and vice versa?

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Correct. Does your garage have a separate meter? If not, the circuit probably originated from the house side.
 
336wheeler said:
Correct. Does your garage have a separate meter? If not, the circuit probably originated from the house side.
Click to expand...
Yes my garage does have a separate meter. Only problem with that is I shut off the main breaker for the garage and still had power to my lights

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That means the lights are powered from the house. If your garage voltage is zero and the lights are still on, circuit likely comes from the house
 
I have determined that the light is powered from the house. Problem is now that the light works whether the switch is in the on or off position.

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Thanks for all of your help guys. I now have the lights functioning properly from a single switch inside the house. Actually got them done early yesterday morning, I just forgot to post up and thank everybody.

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