Lighted 3 way switches

[triplethreat]

Looking for some help here. I just bought and wired up two lighted 3 way switches. Both switches work okay but only 1 lights up. Is it me or a design flaw? Ive got two travlers wires going to the screws of the same color. The one common goes to power and the other common goes to the lights. All grounds are tied together.

 

[Mattlt]

Do you still have the package they came in? I"m guessing if you could only use one of them in a 3-way circuit the package would tell you. Maybe check online with the manufacturer as well.

I know I've had 3-way dimmer switches give me a hard time.

 

[tommywommy]

Good luck with these! I tried the same approach with the lighted switches and could never get them working. After messing with the wiring and switches for several hours over a couple of weeks I wound up scrapping them and just going with plain jane switches that worked perfectly. The switches were three way, but never worked right.

 

[ktm450]

Most switches are SPST, (0ne way) or SPDT (3 way) thus only the hot side of the line is connected to the switch. The way the light works on most is that a neon bulb and large value resistor is across the switch contacts, the neon bulb is then in series with the load when the switch is off, and shorted out when the switch is on. To work there MUST be resistive load attached to the switch to provide a path to ground to complete the circuit, i.e. a regular light bulb. I have found lighted switches don't work on any form of floresent lights or anything other than a "normal" light bulb. They won't work on switch outlets w/o a resistive load either. On a Three way/four way switches it gets even more convoluted, IIRC only one of the switches will light.

 

[Ray-CA]

I spent a few hours trying to get a pair of 3-way switches to work. I had pulled out the ivory colored ones and changed over to white. Wired them in just like I took them out (I had a digital photo because I suffer from CRSD, Can't Remember S&^t Disease.) Couldn't get them to work, checked the wiring, changed the wiring, put it back, put the old switches back. Started to pull out what little hair I had left when my wife reminded me that we had taken the bulbs out when she had the fixtures off the wall to clean them. DOOOOOOH!!!!!

Put the white switches back in, wired the way I had them, put the bulbs in and guess what......Yep, they worked.

Ray

 

[Bermudacat]

Some switches have an additonal small switch on the edge that cotrolls whether or not the switch lights up.