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View Full Version : Mixed up wires to a closet door switch?


Dave Ermeling
Mar 22, 2012, 07:29 PM
My neighbor is finishing his basement and has been trying to do some electrical work himself. Now he's got something mixed up because when he opens his pantry door the light goes off and when he closes the door the light comes on. When they wired our houses they fed the basement lights with a circuit from the main level.
The lights were on a 3-way switch setup.
What's the best way to go about figuring out what is mixed up or how do we get it fixed?
Does he just have the wires on the switches on the wrong screws on the switch maybe?

smoothy
Mar 22, 2012, 07:34 PM
The switch is wired wrong... I'll bet it can be wired either Normally open or normally closed. It sounds like he wired it as normally open... and the circuit closes when the door closes... It needs to be wired normally closed, that way when the door is close, the circuit opens and the light goes off.

Dave Ermeling
Mar 22, 2012, 08:01 PM
I wondered that myself but I don't think he took the door switch apart at all. If the switch does have both N/O and N/C that's an easy fix. I'll look at it this weekend for him.