Are you looking for help with a home electrical project? I am Terry Peterman, the Internet Electrician, and my channel is all about making sure that you complete those home wiring projects safely and correctly.
There are 100+ videos covering most home electrical projects or wiring problems. In addition, I share helpful tips, instruction on how to select and use the right tools for the job, and cover some interesting product reviews.
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Great video, particularly because it explains how the 4 way switch functions, instead of just explaining how it's wired.
So u only break one side of the outlet?!
What If the other end has a 2 prong input slot
Best description and animation of how it works
Thanks for the comment! Have you seen the full version? kzread.info/dash/bejne/qnZ5y8Gfiaezeto.htmlsi=wBcdzOZZSQhAP01T
It's not a three way switch but a two way switch, that's where the confusion comes in.
Welcome to that debate. Agree that calling it a 2-way would make more sense. But here (in North America anyway), it is called a 3-way switch. I guess because you have a light (1), controlled by 2 switches (2) = 3? That's the best I got so far! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for that info. Take care.
Ok I have an issue with a closet light that suddenly stopped working. House was built in 2003. I have done no electrical work previously. Checked bulb first no issue there. Got my voltage tester out and no power on the hot to the switch. But then I checked the 2 neutrals that were tied together in the box and there is power on the neutrals. I checked the other switches and outlets on the circuit for a loose wire and nothing. Breaker has never popped. I’m stumped on this one.
That is a puzzler with what you are describing. Something like this takes an experienced troubleshooter electrician. Sometimes things don't make any logical sense until you find where the problem is and then it can all be rationalized, but this needs some hands on checking. If you were within a 30 minute drive from me I'd be right over!
I'm going to sacrifice my split receptacles because I have a child who is at the age where she's old enough to do stuff around the kitchen. I remember how well I listened to instructions, at her age, and I don't want her to make the same stupid mistakes I did.
ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, Thank you!
@@sedric72 thanks for the nice comment! And thanks for watching!
Diagram of 3 way switch wired to function as A or B switch
Thank you Sir for Sharing, it’s Big Help. Step by Step, make easy for us, more Power.
U r a genyus, thank u
The receiver is a nightmare to install on my model
Yes they are. There is no magic trick either. It's just patience, trial and error, and a lot of swearing (the reason I didn't show it). Just make sure no wires get pinched in the process.
Thank you soooo much!!
Thank you, Terry.
would be nice to see how he got that box done...
There is no magic trick. It's just patience, trial and error, and a lot of swearing (the reason I didn't show it). Just make sure no wires get pinched in the process. Thanks for watching!
Thanks Very Much, Simple When You Know How.😄👍👍👍
thank you so much for the lesson on breaking the tab. Awesome and solved my problem
Please let me know, how much cost the electricity RV DVD 📀 instructional? Thanks 🙏.
Hello 👋 Terry Peterman it's a nice introduction to the beginning but how was finished with your RV? I have a question ❓ how can converter to a single house electric system? My RV.
You install the box first then you slide the retainers on the sides
Im going to be wiring my bonded grnny to a main panel at camp. No sevice is hooked up from utility company. How do i safely connect to my breaker box from a input not a transfer switch,since i wont be transfering loads? House is wired but no utility power to the house,would like to power it solely from the generator
Wonderful presentation, I am trying to understand the following: If the power and the fixture are on the same 3-way switch, how does that affect the wiring diagram?
Man how do you splice it without over twisting the wires so much? Every time i perform a splice, the wires gets way to over twisted.
Got it! Thanks.
People may also want to move the table! Da
Not in that house I filmed it in! Small park model home.
I untightened the screws, turned it on high, let it run, and no clicking. I was so happy!!! So I climbed back up and tightened the screws while being sure I didn't bump anything. Turned it back on and its clicking again. what do you think I am doing wrong?
Thank you so much for this! So helpful
Hi Terry, to start from the beginning, how do find which 3 way switch is the number 1 and not number 3? In your demo, the 3 switches are on the same line, or circuit breaker, but in a home the 3 switches are all over. In my home, the upstairs is the 4 way switch. Downstairs, I have two 3 way switches, so can you tell me how to find which one is the first, and which is the third, the one goes to the light? Thank you so much. Without knowing that, I think there is no way to find the travelers wire in the 3 switch, I think.
Mine is slightly bent so i bent it back to being straight. Its not loose. Is that fine??
Perfect!
Contrary to popular belief 120 volts is more dangerous since your brain tells your hand to let go of 240 volts whereas with 120 it doesn't, leading to death from electrocution, I had an expert electrical engineer explain this to me years ago
Thank you!! I have a 3 way switch in my home, with other things on the circuit. It was driving me nuts! Watched this video, fixed in 2 minutes! Thanks a million billion trillion quadrillion!
Nice
Very similar circumstance. I have a split receptical in my kitchen, but the circuit only runs a single split receptical. If I want to change to GFCI, can I simply omit the red wire by disconnecting at the breaker and capping the red in the outlet box? I'd also have to change out the breaker to single pole - but I'm thinking I'm actually gaining a breaker slot. Does this make sense?
Yes, you're on the right track, but as I mention in the video, why make the change? Yes, you are gaining a breaker space in the panel, but on the flip side, you're losing a full 15A circuit for your kitchen appliances. Given that the wire is presumably #14, you can't even size up the single breaker to a 20A.
Thanks...
Thanks, superior advice and guidance. Your detailed explanations are quite useful for DIY's as well as professionals...
Shared in UK.
I bought four of these for a basement room. How can I run them all on the same line with a single wire?
You just daisy-chain them with 2-wire (+ground) cable. The junction boxes are designed and approved for cable in / cable out.
@@theinternetelectrician thank you so much!
@@theinternetelectrician I daisy-chained them. It worked beautifully. Thank you for your input.
This helped me understand how it is supposed to work, but I had a red, a black, and a white wire in the switch that I was replacing. House was built in the mid-1980s and the mechanical contractor had a drinking problem. I have not pulled out any of the twisted wires. It works with both switches down but not up. I switched the white and black on one switch and it works with one up and one down. So net-net, totally confused.
I have a drinking problem and I wire these all the time! 🙂 But seriously, you still have a common and a traveller mixed up at that location where you replaced the switch. Without being there to have a look, just do this. Power off, move the wires to different screws, power on, check. Repeat if necessary. You can't do any damage, you'll just see a variation of what you are already experiencing if you get it wrong.
@theinternetelectrician Thanks. I figured it out later and you are correct. I put the wires on the same screws on the replacement switches as they had been on the originals. Then I noticed that the original had a copper screw (top right) and 2 brass screws(top and bottom left) while the new switch had brass screws on the top (L & R) and the black screw on bottom left. Switched those 2 wires on each switch and that solved it. The common was in a different place on the older switches. As far as the drinking problem and physical abuse, it was so bad with the son that his wife and her boyfriend (a state trooper) killed him. Claimed self-defense but toxicology report showed he was too drunk to have been functioning at all. So yeah, on a whole other level!
@@walte99 Wow, yeah that's a whole other level alright! Glad you figured it out! Thanks for watching!
I’m confused. Is the neutral short circuiting to ground?
No, the intended path for the neutral conductor is open or broken so the path is not complete. Neutral (grounded) conductors are the intended path for the current flow, but it is at the same potential as the grounding or earthing conductors. So think of it this way. The breaker is on, the current flows to the switch. The switch gets turned on, and the current is now at the device ready to be used (think light bulb, appliance plugged in, etc) But the other conductor to complete the circuit is open or not complete. So the device does not work, but the potential difference (voltage) is there at the end of the broken wire ready to do it's job of completing the circuit, but it can't. So you measure what you think is supposed to be a 0V potential on a white wire, but to your surprise it shows 120V! If you complete the circuit by reconnecting the path, that measured potential will drop to 0V as it should, and the device will work with the now completed path. If you touch that open or loaded neutral thinking it shouldn't be "live", then you can complete the path and become the unintended conductor and get a shock!
Trench shovel would have work better than that Spade shovel 😁
Duly noted! Thanks for the advice!
Nice and helpful
Sir, I have a dimmer switch with an on and off switch on the wall on the first floor. It controls a series of recessed ceiling lights (about 8), then I have an on and off switch on the second floor (no dimmer), which controls the same number of ceiling lights. Would this be considered a 3-way switch?
Can I use the landscape wire 16/2 to hook the light? What is the benefit of using those wire in the video and how does that connect to a transformer?
The project featured here is using line voltage 120Vac for the devices. You are referring to low voltage landscape lighting. That only requires a source of the 120Vac to plug in a transformer and then from the transformer you use the 16/2 low voltage cable at the output of the secondary on the transformer (usually 12Vac) and then run that to all the fixtures that operate at the low voltage transformer supply.
My wires are white black & gold with like construction lookin paper around it.. help please!!! Of course I know the gold is for the green (ground) but my ceiling fan has again green for ground then white (neutral) blue (light) pink, gray & red for (receiver)
I should add that mine has this remote control operation.. I wish I could send pictures 😂 so I gotta wire up this remote to the fan before I wire it to the hardwired in the ceiling so ofcourse all these wires will match up I’m just worried do I do anything else with them.. I know again green to green or bare then white to white but my ceiling fan doesn’t have black so I’m assuming blue to black but what about the rest of them does this remote thing take care of it???
Ya know what I’m a total failure right now 😂 I seen all the wires & panicked!! All color wires coincide with each other then on the opposite side of the remote control thing the white black & green were on the other side I panicked for nothing 😂
Do you have to use the quad breaker or could you donthis with just a regular double pole? And if so, do you just leave the top and bottom terminals unused?
WORKED LIKE A CHAMP!!!!!! Thanks so much for the tip.
Do you have a video for ceilings originally having separate light and fan switches?
love videos like this