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-   -   How to wiring a 3 Way Switched Plug (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=275135)

  • Oct 29, 2008, 06:38 PM
    bushwickbill
    How to wiring a 3 Way Switched Plug
    I am a first year Apprentice with a Electrical company in my town. So far things have been going very good. Been with these guys for about ten months. Slowly but surely my responsbility is going up.
    But today I was rough wiring a 2 bedroom suite when I got to the Master bedroom, From the entrance there is a 2 gang box. One switch is for two pot lights over the bed, The other is for a three way switch for two switched plugs along the wall by the bed?
    I have two three wires 14/3's running from first three way switch, One of those three wires enters the second three way switch, The other three wire goes into one of the Half swithed plugs. Then there is another three wire going from first half switched plug to second half switched plug.
    Now, Can someone please help me understand how to splice this particular wiring setup?
    I have looked around in my books, and on the internet with no help to this kind of issue. Is there a electrician that can help a first year Guy out?
    I am really in need of someone who can help me understand this in laymans terms, If possible.
    Thanks
  • Oct 29, 2008, 07:24 PM
    EPMiller

    Your question is a bit vague. Use terms like cable for the 14/3 cable and conductor for single conductors in a cable. Other terms like hot and neutral would be helpful to understand exactly what you want. Also are these PLUGS or OUTLETS. It makes a big difference. I assume you meant outlets. And 'splice', I hope you aren't lengthening any cables by splicing.

    That said, black is the hot conductor, white is neutral, red is usually switched. There will be a 'home run' or 'feed' coming from the electrical panel. The black (hot) of the home run will attach to one terminal of the switch(s) and also the black conductor in the cable to the outlets. The other switch terminal will go to the red conductor in that cable. At the outlets, the red conductor will attach to the upper brass screw of the outlet (break off that little tab that attaches the two screws together) and the black conductor attaches to the lower brass screw. The whites will never touch any switches and always go to the silver screw on the outlets. As to the lights, black from the hot feed to the one terminal of the switch and then the other terminal to the hot to the lights. I can't figure out where a 3-way switch comes into this unless you didn't explain the electrical layout completely.
  • Oct 29, 2008, 09:02 PM
    KISS

    You have options for the 3-way: Pick one

    Installing A 3-way Switch With Wiring Diagrams - The Home Improvement Web Directory

    What I might consider for the switched outlets near the bed is to make one of the duplex outlets on all the time and the other switched. This would make a lot of sense. 2 lamps on either side of the bed and things like alarm clocks plugged into an always on outlet.

    Wired as power to the 2 gang box might get you somewhere as in option #1 in the link. Run 3 conductor w/gnd to the switched/powered outlets.
  • Oct 29, 2008, 10:52 PM
    bushwickbill
    Thanks for the replies, Sorry if I was a bit Vauge.
    I will try to make myself a bit more clear.
    In the master Bedroom of this suite I am pulling the Arc Fault circuit. Now on the arc fault in the Master bedroom there are two Half switched receptacles on one of the walls. Those two Receptacles are meant to be half switched from a 3 Way switch beside the bed and from the second 3 way switch at Bedroom entrance.
    So the Arc Fault Home run comes into the 2 Gang box at Bedroom entrance. From that 2 gang box there are two 14/3 wires in it. Sure there is another 14/2 wire in that 2 gang box, But that is for a single pole switch for the bedroom pot lights, So we don't need to worry about that 14/2 wire for the sake of my problem. Now, One 3 wire goes to the Second 3 Way switch located by the Bed. The other 3 wire cable goes to the first Half switched Receptacle along the wall by the bed. From that First Half switched Receptacle there is another 3 Wire Cable running to the second Half switched receptacle.
    That is all the wires/Cables that are involved in this problem I am having.
    So when I say splice, I mean I need to strip the end of the wires and connect the right ones to each other in the two gang box at the Bedroom entrance so that my 3 way switch does what it is intended to do.
    If this is any help, At the first half switched receptacle, I know that the two 3 wires that are in there get spliced together like this: White to White, Red to Red, Black to Black and each set of colors gets a pigtail to connect the recptacle to once you have broken off the Brass terminal connector so that the receptacle has two (Hot) terminals. Obviously the second Half switched receptacle get its' brass terminal connector broken off as well so it too has two hot terminals. The second 3 way switch has only one 3 wire in its' single gang box, So that is very straight forward.
    So I need to know how to splice the first 3 way switch so I can control the two half switched receptacles from the bedroom entrance as well as beside the bed:confused:
    I hope I made myself a bit more clear. This is a hard problem to desribe.
    Please can someone please help me figure this out. I would love to know this for tomorrow so I don't have to bug my boss about this splice:rolleyes:
    Thanks again.
  • Oct 30, 2008, 05:44 AM
    hkstroud
    1 Attachment(s)
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