I need to replace a 3 way light switch with a 2 way light switch can this be done and if yes how?

Answer 1

do you mean a 3 gang changed to a 2 gang switch ,yes easy
a 3 way switch ,a light switched from 3 areas ,but now 2 ,yes easy
contact me

Answer 2

If you are in the UK there is no such thing as a 3 way switch, it's called an intermediate, and can only work in conjunction with two, 2 way switches to give a third/fourth/etc switching location. US terminology is different. So you are either in the US or you mean a 3 gang switch, which means 3 switches on the same plate. Can't advise further until I know what you are trying to do and where you are??

Answer 3

you need to replace the 2 three way switches,when a 3 way switch is used that means there are two,the other question is which box is the hot wire going to,if you don't know how a 3 way switch works call an electrician.

Answer 4

If you have a three way switch now, you have two of them and you must replace both. The two hots, red and black, coming from the Switch now are the traveler and the common. The traveler goes only to the other switch, the common may go to the other switch or the light depending on how it is wired. You must figure out which is the wire to the light fixture to wire in the single switch. You can do this working with hot wires or a continuity tester on hot wires, either way I am hesitant to recommend that you do this yourself. Get some help from a friend who knows electrical work or an electrician.

Answer 5

To do those kind of things in England, even in your own home, you must get an electrician.

However, I did my own by simply taping the ends of the unwanted wires with electrical tape (it's black).

The house has not burnt down yet, but get a smoke alarm.

Answer 6

sounds like you need a electrician

Answer 7

Yes but only if the travelers go through the light's junction box.

I am going to tell you right now if you have never worked with three way switches before get an electrician to do it for you! And make sure he has worked with them. You'd be surprised at the number of residental electricians that have never wired in a three way switch.

I am going to explain how to do it assuming that this is a work assignment or part of a test. But one more time if this is something you are going to be doing on your own stop right now and call an electrician. Too many chances to mess up and cost you your life or do some real serious property damage.

On a three way switched light you are going to have one wire going from the feeder (hot wire) to one of the switches. You are going to have one wire going from the other switch to the light. You have two wires called travelers going from one switch to the other switch.

Now that said: First things first. You are going to have to identify your travellers
Travelers: The two wires that go from one three way switch to the other three way switch:
Then you are going to have to identify your hot wire.
Hot wire: live wire coming from the circuit (i.e. breaker box or fuse box) going to the lighting load.
Then you are going to have to identify the wire going from one of your light switches to the light itsefl.

All the identifying is done by turning the power off that branch circuit first and foremost: If you don't know which breaker to turn off or fuse to pull again you need to get an electrician because this can get hairy.

Question is what are you going to do about the other switch?
Next question is where is this located? If it is a long hall way or stairs you have got to be able to turn lights on from both ends. i.e. the bottom of the stairs and the top of the stairs to be legal. The same goes for a long hallway. If you can to two single pole switches you will be able to turn them on but not off unless both switches are off. And if you mess up and get them on separate circuits you run the risk of a direct short between the two hot legs. of a 120-0-120 circuit. or 120/220 volt circuit. which ever you are used to calling it.

To locate your travelers remove the light fixture from the box. Next locate the two wires that go straight though the box without being spliced. Here again you can get in trouble because the electrician who wired the house might have used the box as a feed through box for other circuits as well as the light circuit you are working on. If that is the case you will have several wires going straight through the junction box. Again you need to get an electrician if that is the case. STOP RIGHT THERE AND CALL AND ELECTRICIAN!
MORE THAN ONE ELECTRICIAN HAS BEEN FRIED TO A CRISPY CRITTER WORKING ON THREE WAY SWITCHES!
THIS IS NO JOB FOR SOME ONE WHO IS NOT AN ELECTRICIAN!

Now that said again concerning the dangers of these things to someone who hasn't done it before! Let's continue!

If it is only your travelers in the junction box you are going to have to cut them and identify them. Get you several rolls of electic tape in different colors for this! (RED, BLUE, BROWN, BLACK) do not use white, gray, green, because they identify your neutral and ground wires as such.

Once you have the travellers cut and stripped back you have to identify which is which coming from the switches. You do this with and ohm meter i.e. DMM.
Identify one of the travelers coming from the switch you are going to use and tape the other ones off on both ends. At the light and at the swich box.

If the switch you are going to be using has a wire going from the branch circuit wires (You can identify them by first their color usually black or red, )
Again you are going to have to find out which wire is which coming for the light switch. On one switch the wire will be going from the branch circuit to the switch. On the other wire it will be going from the light switch to the light.
You are going to have to ring them out to find out which wire is which using an ohm meter.
If the wire is going from the branch circuit to the switch you connect it to the top of the switch and connect the traveler you identified to the other terminal on the light switch (not the ground lug terminal if it has one).

Now you connect the other side of the traveler to the light fixture removing the wire going to the light fixture from the other switch and taping it off.

If the switch you are going to using has the wire going from the light switch to the light instead you can do it two ways as long as you identify the hot wires as hot by marking them with either red or black tape on both ends.

It is best to use the black wire for the hot wire i.e. wire from the branch circuit feeder. and red tape to identify wire going from switch to light on both ends.

Ok! here goes!
If the wire going from the swith to the light fixture is black disconnect it at the light. Then disconnect the wire going from the branch circuit to the other switch from the branch circuit and tape it. The more the wire you disconnected from the light over and connect it to the branch circuit feeder. Now identify the other wire (traveler wire you identified) with red tape on both ends. Then connect one end to the light and the other end to the switch following convention.(hot wire on top terminal and switched wire on bottom terminal)

then turn on and check for proper operation. Everything ok turn circut breaker back off and finish job. Installing switch in switch box and light back on junction box.
AGAIN IF YOU ARE NOT CERTAIN ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING GET AN EXPERIENCED ELECTRICIAN TO DO THE JOIN: TOO MANY ELECTRICIANS HAVE THEMSELVES BEEN FRIED TO CRISPY CRITTERS WORKING ON THOSE THINGS TO BE PLAYING AROUND WITH THEM!