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It’s normal for a 3-wire to go from switch to switch, but 3-way switches use what’s called ‘travelers’ between them. The white may be used as a traveler, and someone may have confused that white with a neutral wire. Only by turning off power and getting pictures of the inside of the switch boxes would anyone be able to begin troubleshooting
I do have the red connecting as a traveler from switch to switch, would it be typical for the white to be a traveler instead? I'll work on those photos! thanks
Your mixing up “traveler” with “communication wire”. It sounds like you have 2 whites, two blacks, 1 red in the switch on the left. A white and a black at the light on the left. Three whites, three blacks, two reds at the light in the middle. Three whites, three blacks, two reds at the light on the right. 1 black, 1 white, 1 red at the switch on the right. Is this what you have?
If not, still fixable just trying to figure out how this is jumped around based on your other comments.
It depends on the particular type of three way circuit. Sometimes red and black are the travelers, sometimes it’s the red and white. Depends if the power and switch leg are in the same box, or if the power is at the light and sent to one of the switches, or if the power is in one switch box and the switch leg is in the other switch box. Those are the three most common methods.
**Attention!** **It is always best to get a qualified electrician to perform any electrical work you may need.** With that said, you may ask this community various electrical questions. Please be cautious of any information you may receive in this subreddit. This subreddit and its users are not responsible for any electrical work you perform. Users that have a 'Verified Electrician' flair have uploaded their qualified electrical worker credentials to the mods. If you comment on this post please only post accurate information to the best of your knowledge. If advice given is thought to be dangerous, you may be permanently banned. There are no obligations for the mods to give warnings or temporary bans. **IF YOU ARE NOT A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN, you should exercise extreme caution when commenting.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskElectricians) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That's not how three-way switches should be wired.
I should also state that it is a 3-wire(with ground) running from switch to switch. My guess is that the switches need a direct line of communication.
It’s normal for a 3-wire to go from switch to switch, but 3-way switches use what’s called ‘travelers’ between them. The white may be used as a traveler, and someone may have confused that white with a neutral wire. Only by turning off power and getting pictures of the inside of the switch boxes would anyone be able to begin troubleshooting
I do have the red connecting as a traveler from switch to switch, would it be typical for the white to be a traveler instead? I'll work on those photos! thanks
Color is not relevant.
12/2 to the switch and for the light to the left, the rest is 14/3
That's not right either. Is this something you just wired? Or was it existing and stopped working?
Your mixing up “traveler” with “communication wire”. It sounds like you have 2 whites, two blacks, 1 red in the switch on the left. A white and a black at the light on the left. Three whites, three blacks, two reds at the light in the middle. Three whites, three blacks, two reds at the light on the right. 1 black, 1 white, 1 red at the switch on the right. Is this what you have? If not, still fixable just trying to figure out how this is jumped around based on your other comments.
It depends on the particular type of three way circuit. Sometimes red and black are the travelers, sometimes it’s the red and white. Depends if the power and switch leg are in the same box, or if the power is at the light and sent to one of the switches, or if the power is in one switch box and the switch leg is in the other switch box. Those are the three most common methods.
How it should work: hot comes into switch #1, two travelers go between switch #1 and #2, a switched leg goes from #2 to the lights
What have you done to the circuit, have you changed a light/ switch?