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3-way Switch Repeatedly loses power

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    3-way Switch Repeatedly loses power

    Hello everyone...first support post here. I recently created an Insteon 3 way switch for my back porch light. The light can originally be turned on from the garage or the back door. Following the instructions in the installation manual, I located the line wire 120v in the garage switchbox. In my case, this wire is red. There are two travelers, one red, one black. There is a neutral wire and a ground. I treated this switch as the secondary switch and proceeded as follows: 1. Capped the switchlinc load wire (red) 2. Grouped the switchlinc black wire with the line voltage and the black traveler wire. 3. Grouped neutral to neutral and ground to ground. In the primary switch box, I connected a keypad Linc in the usual fashion, with the line wire connected to the black traveler. For 2 weeks, the system worked flawlessly. All of a sudden, both switches lost power. I took everything out, re-wired (assuming I had a loose connection), and again got the switches powered up and working. This time it lasted for a few days. The third time I re-wired, it lasted for a couple of days, and the last time it only lasted through the day. So each time, I can restore power to the switches by starting all over again, but they inevitably stop working. Can anyone tell me what's wrong? Is there some sort of local circuit breaker on the switches themselves that a being tripped? The breaker at the main box does not get thrown when the switches die. I've installed other insteon switches, including 3 way, with nothing but success. Thanks for any help.

    #2
    I don't know if the switches have that sort of protection but I do know that's it's unusual for power to enter on a red wire (unless that box has 220 volts). It you tested with the "other" standard switch still wired, then you may have gotten a false reading. Describe the wires in each switch box including how may of each color. You can disregard any ground wires.
    Message from Forum Admin: stusviews passed away in April 2018. Stu was a huge fan of Insteon and a huge presence on both the Smarthome and Insteon forums, helping thousands of us along the way (he had nearly 20,000 posts to his name). We thank him for his contributions, dedication, and passion for making the Smart Home a reality. He will truly be missed.
    Saving energy is not always free. Be a world saver.

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      #3
      OK I think I'm on to something with your help. It bears mentioning that in the secondary box (line), there is another switchlinc installed that is part of a stairwell 3-way switch on a separate circuit.

      After you mentioned that it's unusual for line to be on red, I turned off power to both circuits, disconnected the switches, restored power to only the patio circuit and tested again. I did, in fact find line voltage on a black wire in the secondary switch box, and the red wire was dead. This led me to discover that the red wire is on the other circuit and therefore must be an unused traveler wire for the stairwell, correct?

      I reattached everything and have power to the switches as expected. Hopefully this will solve the issues.

      Now, to understand what was happening. If I did in fact have one 3-way switch pulling power from a traveler wire on a second 3-way switch, would the load switching of the stairwell circuit cause the patio switches to lose power altogether? The odd thing was, after the patio switches would lose power, I could continue to operate the stairwell circuit without problems, but it would never restore the power to the patio switches until I undid everything and re-attached the wires.

      Thanks for your help.

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        #4
        Guessing about wires, especially those involved in a 3-way configuration can lead to all kinds of unusual results. The only way to be sure is to use a volt/multimeter to verify the function of each wire.
        Message from Forum Admin: stusviews passed away in April 2018. Stu was a huge fan of Insteon and a huge presence on both the Smarthome and Insteon forums, helping thousands of us along the way (he had nearly 20,000 posts to his name). We thank him for his contributions, dedication, and passion for making the Smart Home a reality. He will truly be missed.
        Saving energy is not always free. Be a world saver.

        Comment

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