How do I convert from 3-way switch to 2-way switch

[Lil'John]

Subject mostly states it.

But to clarify with pictures:
(This link opens second attachment)
http://garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=290454&stc=1&d=1382974659

I've got a house with a detached garage shown above. The house has a light switch and three light while the garage has a light switch and the single light shown.

The two light switches control all four lights.

I want to have the house light switch only control the house lights and a switch in the garage control a dusk/dawn light.

The garage wiring is easy as it is currently exposed. In fact, it is almost done except for installing new led dusk/dawn light.

I'm at a bit of a loss with the house side.

The wiring coming to the garage from the house looks like this:
(This link opens first attachment)
http://garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=290453&stc=1&d=1382974659

It is a pair of 14/2 romex wires.

Is there something I can do with the romex at the garage to turn the house wiring to 2 way?

Or do I need to start digging around in the house wiring to fix it?

 

[rancherbill]

Perhaps, it would be easier if you made a sketch of the wiring, where the wires come from and go to, and where the switches and fixtures are?.

 

[Norcal]

A "2 way" is what the Brits call a 3 way.

 

[2ManyProjects]

Subject mostly states it.

But to clarify with pictures:

WHAT pictures?

Now that I'm replying, I see in the source code of your post that you attempted to embed a link; but it didn't work, and attempting to access the "attachment" directly in my browser makes the BBS software think I'm not logged in (which I am, of course).

I've got a house with a detached garage shown above. The house has a light switch and three light while the garage has a light switch and the single light shown.

The two light switches control all four lights.

Do you mean "in unison", or "in aggregate"?

I want to have the house light switch only control the house lights and a switch in the garage control a dusk/dawn light.

The garage wiring is easy as it is currently exposed. In fact, it is almost done except for installing new led dusk/dawn light.

I'm at a bit of a loss with the house side.

The wiring coming to the garage from the house looks like this:

Again, no image.

It is a pair of 14/2 romex wires.

Is there something I can do with the romex at the garage to turn the house wiring to 2 way?

Or do I need to start digging around in the house wiring to fix it?

Maybe with the aid of those missing pics, this would be somewhat less opaque; but regardless, I am almost completely lost by your description above. Hence, what follows is pure Wild-***-Guesswork:

If you meant "in aggregate" above, you're are presumably already almost where you want to be. You merely need to "move" one or more the individual fixtures from one circuit to the other, so that the desired fixtures are controlled by each switch.

However, IF you meant "in unison" above (which I suspect you did), the answer depends on how the circuit is currently wired -- and particularly on where power is fed into that circuit. Assuming this is a conventional "3-way" switch circuit, there are at least three significantly different possibilities: It could be at the house end, or at the garage end, or at (one of) the fixtures. You're hoping that it is at the house end (which will make the conversion relatively simple); but until you KNOW this with absolute certainty, you cannot just assume it. Nor can you proceed to reconfigure the wiring (save for ripping it all out and starting over, of course), as the "solution" will be different in each case.

In order to diagnose this, I would suggest that you completely disconnect each switch, ONE AT A TIME, then see where (and on which wire) you still have power (particularly in the box from which you just removed the switch; but it might also be useful to test at at least one of the fixture locations, too). In both cases, be sure to test with the "other" switch in both positions. Finally, disconnect BOTH switches, and check again. Between these various iterations, you should be able to noodle out the existing circuit configuration. To help keep from getting lost in all the permutations, it might be a good idea to make up a little table showing each possible test location/wire on one axis, and the various combinations of disconnected switches and switch positions on the other axis, and fill it in ("Y"/"N") as you go.

A "2 way" is what the Brits call a 3 way.

Huh? Can you elaborate on this? Or do you perhaps mean that the other way around?

Per common (USA-ian) usage, "2-way" is a non-sequitur; there is only "single-pole", "3-Way" and "4-Way". I've always thought that terminology illogical and inconsistent; but it is what it is.

 

[Lil'John]

Let me see what happened to the pictures I attached.

Also, I'll work on a couple of diagrams for the wiring/lighting.

 

[Norcal]

We call it a 3-way, the Brits call it a 2-way, simple as that.

 

[Lil'John]

Pictures are now attached to the first post.

2ManyProjects, I'm not sure what you mean by "in unison", or "in aggregate"?.

My end goal is to have a single light on the garage controlled by a single switch in the garage(simple part). I also want to convert the existing wiring on the house so a single switch in the house controls the three lights on the house.

I'm still working on getting a "wiring type" pictures to show current situation and desired situation.

 

[2ManyProjects]

We call it a 3-way, the Brits call it a 2-way, simple as that.

Ahhh... OK, that makes more sense. The way you originally phrased it, I took you to mean the other way around.

Pictures are now attached to the first post.

Good. But unfortunately, they don't really help clarify the situation.

2ManyProjects, I'm not sure what you mean by "in unison", or "in aggregate"?.

"In unison" would mean that whichever switch you throw, it affects all four lights identically, and at the same time. "In aggregate" would mean that, betwen the two switches, you can control all four lights; but no single switch can control ALL of them.

After re-reading the thread, I strongly suspect that you now have "in unison", and want "in aggregate".

My end goal is to have a single light on the garage controlled by a single switch in the garage(simple part). I also want to convert the existing wiring on the house so a single switch in the house controls the three lights on the house.

That much is clear. But having said that, I will also raise the question of, do you REALLY want what you think you want? While I agree that controlling the lights on the house from the shed is probably not all that useful, the same cannot be said for the other side of the coin: IOW, if the light on the shed's exterior can be controlled ONLY from the shed, that means that if you forget to turn it off (or on), you have to traipse out there to throw the switch. It would seem to be much more convenient to be able to control this from within the house, as well as from the shed.

And while I'm at it... Aren't you going to be tearing down that shed within a few months anyway? If so, why bother "upgrading it" now? Part of the reason I bring this up is because whatever you do now will very likely have to be re-done (from scratch) when the shed is demolished. I'll wait until I see the wiring diagram before carving this in granite; but if things are set up the way I suspect they are, the only really simple way to do what you want to do now will involve removing the switch in the shed, connecting the traveller wires together so that they will always feed power back to the house switch, and then installing a completely new switch and switch loop for the shed light. But once the shed is gone, you will presumably also be removing the wires between the shed and the house; so you'll still need to re-wire the house lights anyway.

I'm still working on getting a "wiring type" pictures to show current situation and desired situation.

That will probably help. Refer to the diagnostic procedures I described earlier to figure out exactly what connects to what.