Replacing old outlets..

[Jkaz]

Replacing the outlets I ran into an issue when I hooked the new ones up, maybe someone can help me. I have these three switches. The far left controls all the outlets on the ceiling of my garage which has fluorescent fixtures plugged in (flip the switch, all the ceiling lights come on), the middle controls 2 separate ceiling light fixtures and the far right controls an outside light as well as a shed light for a different part of the garage.

That being said, here is the wiring, I had to buy a 3-way switch but I'm not sure it's hooked up right because I can't get the switch to activate power to all the ceiling outlets and turn the fluorescent lights on. The 2 fixture switch (middle switch) won't work either. The only one that turns on is the far right. Is it possible I bought the wrong switch type? The switch that I replaced was an older switch that had a different layout, so it is quite possible that I just have a wire misplaced.

Any help would be awesome! I haven't myself yet and I don't plan to!

 

[MrMark]

You have a lot of problems there in terms of wiring methods. None of those problems will cause your lights not to light up though.

How many power feeds (circuits) coming into the box?

If it's just one feed for the power, then that gets pigtailed to the switches as the hot feed and the other screw terminal on the switch is the switch leg, which goes to the light. Hot is switched. The neutrals are all tied together as are the grounds.

Three way is pretty simple, but there are probably 5 ways it could be hooked up. I would need to see a diagram of your layout to tell you how to do it best. But basically the common gets power at one end and the switch leg on the other end. The travelers run between the two switches.

That white should not be on the three way switch if it is a neutral. It may be a hot wire (common) that should be taped black.

More on three way: The most common way to do it is to have 12/2 come in to the first switch as a power feed. The black from the 12/2 goes to the common on the switch. The white from the 12/2 gets tied to the white from an incoming 12/3 that goes to the other swich. THis carries the neutral to the other box. The red and black on the 12/3 are travelers and go to the switch.

At the other end the process is similar except that the common on the switch gets hooked to the switch leg (12/2) to the light.

 

[theoldwizard1]

... Is it possible I bought the wrong switch type?

In general, there are only 2 types of switches available at a hardware/home center store. Regular on/off and 3 way.

From the picture, the center and right switch appear to share a common power feed. (The bottom wire on both). As long as the neutral and grounds of the load sides of these circuits are properly tied together (not shown in pictures; needs to be verified), there is no (obvious) reason why both circuits should NOT work properly.

The 3 way switch (left) appears to have a separate power feed. As stated, it can be wired wrong. in many ways.


If the feed for the 3 way and the other 2 switch is separate, then you have 2 separate problems. Don't let one confuse you on the other !

 

[pattenp]

If you've misplaced a wire on the 3way you need a voltmeter to sort things out. If that 3way is on the power feed end then the black or red should always be hot. If it's on the load end then the power should switch between two of the wires as you switch on and off the other 3way switch. Hope you have a meter otherwise lick your finger.

 

[Greatbear]

Do the middle two switches work normally? From what I can (barely) see it looks like you have a common feed for the middle pair, and the one of the left has the three wires coming directly from the one romex cable, meaning the feed comes from the other switch in the 3-way circuit. If this is the case, and everything worked fine before you replaced the devices, then you simply mis-wired the first switch. To test this, remove all the wires from the switch. Measure between the neutral in the box (stick the probe into the neutral terminal (the longer of the two blades) of the outlet) and the three wires. Now toggle the opposite switch. If the hot wire remains the same, this connects to the "common" (usually the black screw) of the switch, the other two wires on the remaining terminals. If the hot wire changes, the one that did not become hot is the common, with the two hots going on the remaining terminals.

 

[Jkaz]

Just wanted to quick thank you guys for your input. I got everything figured out with the 3-way. And the switch that controlled all the ceiling outlets; I just ended up re-connecting all the outlets so the power fed all the way through the lines again.. not sure what the term is for that but simple enough solution. Who would have thought, just but things back where they came from. Der!