opened up a box and was surprised by circuit

[tearapin]

Hello,
I opened up a switch box ion my garage today and became a bit confused. I took meticulous notes. However, I do not understand what is happening in terms of the circuits when I opened up the box. Everything works fine and tests out with a electrical circuit tester. I am just sort of puzzled.
Here is what is inside the box.

1 three way switch which controls the lights inside the garage.
1 switch to turn on the service light outside the access door.
1 outlet.

I have 3 pieces of 14/2 Romex coming into the box.
I have one 14/3 piece coming into the box
1 have a red conductor and I can plainly see that they are using it as the traveler wire.
1 wire obviously feeds the service door light switch.
As for the other two 14/2 wires coming in….I assume they are going out to feed other things. Ceiling outlets etc.
I am guessing if I turn on the juice and meter all the wires I would hope I have only one hot one coming in. I assume this because the breaker kills all juice into the area. I tested that before working on it.

I assume the three way one would be hot and they jumpered/fed the two way switch for the service door light off that hot? Or would they bring two hot in from the same breaker?

Anyone have a good test procedure I could use to determine this? As you can tell this circuit makes me dizzy. I was surprised to find more that two wires in there.
Also perhaps a good book on home wiring that you could recommend?

If you need a detailed wiring diagram I guess I could draw one up.

TP

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Post some pics.

Descriptions are harder to understand than pics.

Why did u open the box? Are u having issues?

 

[Mustang51js]

Yeah,not really sure what your question is,seems normal for what your saying. Are you trying to split up the curcuit for some reason

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Hello,
I opened up a switch box ion my garage today and became a bit confused. I took meticulous notes. However, I do not understand what is happening in terms of the circuits when I opened up the box. Everything works fine and tests out with a electrical circuit tester. I am just sort of puzzled.
Here is what is inside the box.

1 three way switch which controls the lights inside the garage.
1 switch to turn on the service light outside the access door.
1 outlet.

I have 3 pieces of 14/2 Romex coming into the box.
I have one 14/3 piece coming into the box
1 have a red conductor and I can plainly see that they are using it as the traveler wire.
1 wire obviously feeds the service door light switch.
As for the other two 14/2 wires coming in….I assume they are going out to feed other things. Ceiling outlets etc.
I am guessing if I turn on the juice and meter all the wires I would hope I have only one hot one coming in. I assume this because the breaker kills all juice into the area. I tested that before working on it.

I assume the three way one would be hot and they jumpered/fed the two way switch for the service door light off that hot? Or would they bring two hot in from the same breaker?

Anyone have a good test procedure I could use to determine this? As you can tell this circuit makes me dizzy. I was surprised to find more that two wires in there.
Also perhaps a good book on home wiring that you could recommend?

If you need a detailed wiring diagram I guess I could draw one up.

TP

I have 3 pieces of 14/2 Romex coming into the box.I have one 14/3 piece coming into the box. Normal

1 have a red conductor and I can plainly see that they are using it as the traveler wire. Normal

1 wire obviously feeds the service door light switch. Correct

As for the other two 14/2 wires coming in….I assume they are going out to feed other things. Ceiling outlets etc. Correct

I am guessing if I turn on the juice and meter all the wires I would hope I have only one hot one coming in. Should be, no reason for dual feeds

I assume this because the breaker kills all juice into the area. I tested that before working on it. Answered your own question here

I assume the three way one would be hot and they jumpered/fed the two way switch for the service door light off that hot? Correct

Or would they bring two hot in from the same breaker? No need to on a simple lighting circuit for your situation

Anyone have a good test procedure I could use to determine this? If all your lights are being switched and controlled as needed and they light up....then you are troubleshooting a problem that does not exist. If they do not light up, put in new proven lamps and if they do not work then ....you have a problem to check out.


As you can tell this circuit makes me dizzy. I was surprised to find more that two wires in there. Normal wiring for a multiple ganged box with multiple devices in it.

Also perhaps a good book on home wiring that you could recommend? The big stores have them..IE: Lowes and Home Depot.

If you need a detailed wiring diagram I guess I could draw one up. Not necessary for my reply but I will not speak for the other posters. I have not read about a deficiency or wiring problem you may be looking for. I will go out on a limb here and assume you are just curious about home wiring which is fine to be, just get a book, get informed and work safe ! Good luck. JMO

 

[tearapin]

I opened it up because I was thinking of adding another outlet there.

As you might guess, I have to wrap all the grounds together and pigtail off to each switch. The ground group of wires is 7 wires at this point. The brass crimpers will not take that many wires. What is normal procedure for this? It is currently wire nutted.


Again thanks for the help/re-assurance.

 

[Travv]

Just get a gray or blue wirenut for the grounds. Also you might want to check on your box fill.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[tearapin]

It is a 3 gang deep box. Yes it is getting really full. It has 3 14/2 and one 14/3 wires in it plus the pigtails.

 

[gregtwojeeps]

I opened it up because I was thinking of adding another outlet there.

As you might guess, I have to wrap all the grounds together and pigtail off to each switch. The ground group of wires is 7 wires at this point. The brass crimpers will not take that many wires. What is normal procedure for this? It is currently wire nutted.


Again thanks for the help/re-assurance.

Wire nuts are fine, they even make green ones for grounding conductor splice connections if you want. It sounds like you have a box full of conductors already.

A pic of the 3 gang box and proposed outlet location would help everyone help you. What is the outlet to be used for ? Not a ideal situation to put a garage outlet on a lighting circuit, but people's budget's make them do what they do I guess. New outlet in a garage ....think GFCI.

 

[tearapin]

THe circuit is GFI protected further up the line.

One thing I do not get is that I have the hot black lead coming into the 3 way switch, the red wire comes in also (traveler). Then I have a black wire going from the switch to the black wire nut cluster. I assume that is the power feed to the other switch and outlet? I thought there would be a white one there too.

I am Googling around about this now.

 

[justsam]

I suspect you will find the cluster of black wires to be hot all the time. The one going to the 3 way no doubt is going to the common on the 3 way.

At the other 3 way location the common will be going to the light.

 

[CNGsaves]

Best advice from GJ Sparky's will come with . . . . PICTURES



a) Picture of breaker panel . . . . Cover On

b) Picture of breaker panel . . . . Cover OFF

 

[tearapin]

I suspect you will find the cluster of black wires to be hot all the time. The one going to the 3 way no doubt is going to the common on the 3 way.

At the other 3 way location the common will be going to the light.

Thanks that is what I thought.

I need to find a good wiring book. Just so I can understand circuits more. Not sure how to select a good one though. They all kind of look the same but I am sure some are better than others.

 

[DC73]

I am guessing if I turn on the juice and meter all the wires I would hope I have only one hot one coming in. Should be, no reason for dual feeds

Never assume this is true. I've seen dual feeds in one junction box many times. My current house has a ceiling fan in the living room. The junction box contains 3 switches. One for the fan, one for the light on the fan, and one for the porch light. The two lights are on one circuit and the switch for the ceiling fan is fed by another circuit (two different breakers).

DC

 

[Cmreschke]

Best advice from GJ Sparky's will come with . . . . PICTURES



a) Picture of breaker panel . . . . Cover On

b) Picture of breaker panel . . . . Cover OFF

Seriously? It's a switch box why the hell do you need to see his breaker box with the cover on or off.
And if he doesn't have a breaker box but instead a fuse box you'll be telling him he has to upgrade his service size to 400 amps and get 2 200 amp panels with sub panels coming off of each. Then don't forget the transfer switches for each panel fed from their own generators.

All just to add a receptacle cause well you never know.
Jeez Louise. But the GJ sparkys will chime in cause your not a wireman.

 

[Cmreschke]

Thanks that is what I thought.

I need to find a good wiring book. Just so I can understand circuits more. Not sure how to select a good one though. They all kind of look the same but I am sure some are better than others.

When in doubt with electricity. Hire it out. Electricity Is not like plumbing. Plumbing you screw up you flood something. Electricity you screw up and you burn your house down, or worse, your dead.