Three Way Light Switch Wiring

This 3 way switch wiring diagram shows how to wire the switches and the light when the power is coming to the light switch.

Three way light switch wiring.

The black line wire connects to the common terminal of the first 3 way switch. Hook the curled end of the wire under the screw then tighten down the screw to hold the wire firmly in place. The two hot wires of three wire cable connect to a pair of brass colored traveler terminals on each switch. Connect the ground wire to the green screw.

Connect the wire marked common to the black or dark colored screw. Installing the switches and light 1 attach the black power cable from the wall to the general screw black in the three way light switch. Regardless of what 3 way switch wiring diagram you re following you ll need to use a 3 wire cable to connect the two 3 way light switches. In this diagram the incoming hot wire attaches to the first switch s common dark colored terminal.

Typical 3 way switch wiring nm cable in the 1st diagram below a 2 wire nm cable supplies power from the panel to the first switch box. So what you should see if you have correct 3 wire electrical cable romex is a black power white neutral and now a 3rd red wire.