[housefinder]

My electrician wired 5, 3way switches in my hall and the corresponding set of 5 in my games room.

My problem is that when all 5 switches are in the down position in the hall and thus all 5 switches in the games room are in the corresponding up position, I still have 1 light that stays on.

I have to have 1 switch out of the 10 in the out of sequence position.

Can a 3way switch be installed upside down or reversed. May be a problem with the switch itself?

I have spoken to the electrician and he had a hard time even admitting 1 switch was not the same as the other 9 and he said you could not reverse a 3way.

Has anyone come across this before and know what the problem is?

Thanks or any assistance

Mark Canada

[tkrussell]

There is no technical up or down or on or off for a 3 way, only in your particular situation it seems so. You can turn that one switch around so the handles are orientated the same with all the lights on or off.

[WallyHelps]

Mark -
You can simply flip the odd switch over to make it line up with the others.

Alternatively, you can reverse two of the wires (see drawing I modified from easydiyelectricity.com) to accomplish the same thing. I would do this only if you cannot flip the switch over for some reason.

[Hmmm... looks like tkrussell sneaked an answer in while I was working on mine]

Hope this helps,
WallyH

[stanfortyman]

I am confused, do all the swtiches and light work? The problem is with the "pattern" of the switches?

What do you mean one light is still on?

[tkrussell]

I had one customer with this issue. Standard raised ranch home with three 3-way switches at the beginning of the hall going to bedrooms. One switch for kitchen, one for hall, and one for front stairway to front door.

Lady called me back same day she moved into her new home. She was upset the builder or inspector did not pick up on this issue during CO inspection!

Insisted that the 3 switches be all up or down at all times, drove her nuts if one was up and two down, which would change if any of the other switches were used.

This took a while to explain, and show her, by throwing the other switches to illustrate the randomness of the hall, kitchen, and stair lights being used at whatever time someone needed them.

I even had to show her that if each light was only controlled by a single pole , all three at one location, how could all the handles be up or down, and the lights not all be on or off at the same time.

After three hours of showing, explaining, turning switches for better illustration, I reminded her that she was paying for my time to do this dog and pony show, amazingly, she got it, and settled for the handles the be wherever they fall.

She also finally admitted that she was being treated for Obsessive Compulsion Behavior. If I knew that up front I would have raised by hourly rate.