Parts of a three way switch. One screw known as the common is a darker color than the others.
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Understanding Three Way Wall Switches
3 way switch screw colors. It doesnt matter which traveler goes on which common terminal. Two terminals of the same color silver or brass and one terminal colored bronze or black. These switches have two light colored terminals and one dark colored terminal plus a ground screw. A 3 way switch has three terminal screws plus a ground screw. The light colored terminals are the traveler terminals and are interchangeable. The black wire from the circuit breaker panel gets attached to the black screw on the 3 way switch.
The 3 way switch has three active terminals plus a ground in up to date installations. The heart of a 3 way circuit is the 3 way switch. The ground screw is usually green. One of the screw terminals is a darker color than the other two terminals. Two of the terminals are a light colorbronze or copper coloredand are called travelers. The other two screws usually a lighter brass color are known as the traveler terminals.
At the line switch box the black wire of the two wire line cable gets connected to the copper or black screw terminal on the three way switch. The dark colored terminal is the common terminal and brings power from the source to the light fixture. The black terminal screw is called the common terminal and the other two terminals are called the travelers. The ground wire connects to the green screw and the travelers connect to the two brass screws. The black and red wires from the white cable running between the switches get connected to either of the two brass screws on the switch. The red and black wires travelers of the 3 wire cable get connected to the common terminals on the three way switch.
The 14 3 cable has three insulated conductors. A more positive way to identify a 3 way switch is to look at the body of the switch and count the number of screw terminals. That one screw that stands out from the other 2 is the common screw connection. There are three screw terminals on the body of the switch in addition to the green grounding screw. While standard single pole switches have two screw terminals on one side of the switch plus a third green grounding screw terminal connected to the metal strap three way switches have three screw terminals plus a ground screw. On the other end the two white wires are wire nutted together.
Each switch has three terminal screws. Hot black screw brass traveler screw. Connect the wires to the new 3 way switches with ground screws using one of the two wiring diagrams fig. If you look at each of the main connection screws on a 3 way switch you should have no problem in determining that one of the screws is distinctly different in color or one screw is darker than the others. Despite the name three way switches are actually two position switches. Color coding on three way switches is very important.
The darker terminal is known as the common connection of the switch. The common screw of a 3 way switch is the odd color screw. White black and red plus a bare ground wire. The single dark colored screw is known as the common terminal.
Gallery of 3 Way Switch Screw Colors
