Connecting Traveler Wires to Switches (Conceptual)

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How to Wire a 3-Way Switch, The Simplest and Easiest Way Possible, Thoughts? #electrician

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What happens here

Each 3-way switch has specific terminals: a common terminal, two traveler terminals (often gold-colored), and a green ground screw. The 'traveler' wires (black and red from the 14/3 Romex) connect to the two gold traveler terminals on each switch. It's important to note that the specific traveler wire (black or red) connected to each gold screw does not matter, as they simply provide two paths for electricity. The bare ground wire connects to the green ground screw on both switches and the light fixture. The neutral wire (typically white) does NOT connect to the 3-way switches directly; it bypasses them and goes directly to the light fixture to complete the circuit.

Goal: Understand the terminal connections on a 3-way switch.

Tools and materials

3-Way Switch Leviton Decora — Learning about the different terminals and their function

What they say

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right? That two traveler terminals here. Which one does the black go on? >> Black goes on the gold screw. There's two gold screws. >> Black goes on any gold screw. Correct. It doesn't matter which one you put it on. They're travelers, two lanes of this highway. Neutrals do not touch the switches. It will continue up into the light fixture. So, now you're going to attach your high hat or whatever you want to put here, right? And what happens is you're just selecting which lane you want for the power to go on. So, if the light is off for some reason, you want to just change the lane. You want to turn the light back off, just change the lane. That's all you're doing. So again, you have travelers and you have two points.

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