How Do You Wire Three-Way Light Circuits?
Three-way switches are used when you need to turn lights on and off from two different locations. A typical use for a three-way light circuit would be to turn a stairwell light on or off from either the top or bottom of the stairway. There are two ways of wiring a three-way lighting circuit depending on where the service panel is located in relationship to the lighting outlet box and the device boxes. One way is to bring the power into the lighting out box and then run a switch leg to the switches and back to the light fixture. The other way is to run the power into the device box closest to the panel and then through the switches to the light fixture. The three-way switches are wired the same; the only difference is in the way the cable bringing power to the first switch and through them to the light fixture is routed. For these instructions, we will assume that wiring has already been installed with the power being fed into the first device box. A device box is any electrical box des
