removing 3 way light switch
Noobie
just want to restore a permanent circuit along the hot and neutral wires.
What wires do I need to connect in order to do this?
--
Mitch Abaza
Jack Swedberg
"Noobie" <mi...@mabaza.com> wrote in message
news:YW3i8.14844$IN3.3...@kent.svc.tds.net...
Goedjn
There will be two wires actually connected to the
working parts of the switch on one side,
and only one on the other. Pick either one
of the two incomming, and connect it to the outgoing,
and stick a wire-nut on the other one.
If a white wire is connected to the switch,
it ought to be marked in some way, but it's probably not.
*I* would disconnect the unused wire at the
other switch, too. (again, with a wire-nut)
Harry
depends on which light switch has the power supply. If you hook up the
white to the black in the box, be prepared for a rather nasty surprise when
you turn the breaker on.
Here's what I'd do, assuming (and this is important) that the source of
power is one of the switches, not the light. See further below for those
instructions.
====
Firstly, determine which switch has the hot wire. To do this, you'll need
to turn off the breaker, disconnect one of the black wires on one of the
3-way switches, and test it with a voltmeter across the black and white
wire. If it registers, this is the hot box. If not, it's the other box.
Now, if the hot box is the one in which you want a switch, you should find
another black wire in that box which goes up to the light. Put the hot
black on one screw of the single-pole switch, and the other black on the
other screw. Put a cap on the red wire. Go to the other box, remove the
switch, cap the black and red wires, or all of them.
===
If the hot box is the one you want to get rid of, then connect the black
wire to the red wire in the hot box. Cap the black wire that isn't hot. In
the other box, the red wire is now hot. Put the red wire on one screw of
the single-poll switch, and the black wire on the other screw. This should
account for all of the wires.
===
IF THE POWER SOURCE IS COMING FROM THE LIGHT, here's what you'd do:
Firstly, the black and white wires coming from the light will probably be
reversed, so you'll discover that the white wire is hot, not the black wire.
Test this with the voltmeter between the white wire and the ground wire.
If the hot box is the one you want to keep, put the white wire on one screw
of the single-pole switch, and the black wire on the other screw. Cap the
red wire, the spare black wire, and the other white wire. Once this is
done, the other box will be completely dead. Simply remove everything from
the other box and cap the wires.
If the you want keep the other box, you may as well continue the
white-wire-is-hot paradigm. Connect the white wire to the white wire, the
black wire to the black wire, and cap the red wire. In the other box,
connect the white wire to one screw of the single-pole switch, and the black
wire to the other screw. Cap the red wire.
=========
Now if you have more than 2 "3-way" switches, it gets a lot more
complicated, since you also have a 4-way switch somewhere in the loop.
"Jack Swedberg" <jswe...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:et4i8.3058$Nd.2...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
Michael Bruss
but not necessarily from a standpoint of convenience, code and safety.
The following assumes that the orignal wiring was done correctly, that
you know how to safely test for a hot wire, and there are no 4-way switches
involved. Use an inductive type hot detector. They're quicker and safer
than than using direct contact meters or test lights. You can get an
inductive type hot detector for about $10 or so at Home Depot (GB is one
brand). Always check that the circuit is dead even if you are sure you
turned the breaker off.
1. Flip the switch you want to keep to the up position. If the light
is not on, flip the switch you want to remove to the other position
so the light is on.
2. Remove the cover from the switch you want to remove and determine
which wire coming into the side with two terminals is hot. This is the
wire you want to connect to the wire on the other side of the switch
(with the power off, of course).
3. Place a wire nut on the other (now unused) wire coming into the side
with two terminals and restore power. If the light does not come on, the
instructions above were not followed correctly or the original wiring was
not correct or the bulb just burned out.
4. Remove the cover from the switch you want to keep and determine
which wire coming into the side with two terminals is not hot. This is
the other end of the unused wire.
5. Remove power. Disconnect the unused wire and put a wire nut on it.
Check switch is in up position. Restore power. If light is not on,
one of the problems mentioned in #3 exists.
The above procedure insures that the light is on when the remaining
switch is up and off when it is down; and insures that the unused wire
will never be hot.
6. Place a blank cover over the box where the switch was removed.
You can not plaster or panel over it or conceal it with anything
permanent, which may make you rethink wanting to remove the switch
in the first place.
Mike
Noobie <mi...@mabaza.com> wrote:
: I'd like to remove a 3 way light switch. I don't want a switch there and
