2477s ON OFF Switch in a three way setting

[nhk220]

The problem I am having is at box 2. There are only 4 wires including ground. One is the red traveler. The others are black and white. I cannot hook up the switches the way it says to because there are only the 4 four wires at box 2. This box does not have a line. The other one does. Both switches light up, but the lights do not turn on. Any ideas on what I can try would be very much appreciated. (Fortunately this is the only three way I have.)

[stusviews]

Describe the wiring at the other end. BTW, you can disregard the ground wire. What you actually have is a 3-wire cable plus ground. Also, in every 3-way configuration using Romex, at least one white wire is not a neutral.

[nhk220]

One box has many wires from many fixtures. The switch that controlled the lights had a WH, two BK and a RED. The second box has WH, BK, RD. I have determined that the BK in the second box is the load. I cannot figure out what the second BK in the first box is, one being HOT. Now it seems that the switch at box one is turing the switch at box two on and off! I'm going crazy. When I meter the wires, only the one BK at box 1 registers hot. Thanks

[JEM2114]

One box has many wires from many fixtures. The switch that controlled the lights had a WH, two BK and a RED. The second box has WH, BK, RD. I have determined that the BK in the second box is the load. I cannot figure out what the second BK in the first box is, one being HOT. Now it seems that the switch at box one is turing the switch at box two on and off! I'm going crazy. When I meter the wires, only the one BK at box 1 registers hot. Thanks

Hopefully someone with an electrical background will help, but in the meantime the attached schematic may help.

[nhk220]

JEM2114. The problem is the second box (right in your diagram) only has RD, WH, BK, GD coming into the box. No other wires. I have jury rigged a single switch system by connecting RD and BK(LOAD) in second box, and hooking up switch as a single switch in box 1 with now red as the load. Box 1 has white and HOT BK.
I thought I understood how this works, but I am really puzzled.
Thanks to all

[stusviews]

Unless you are familiar with wiring, the only way any help can be provided is for you to describe the existing wires, especially those connected to the 3-way switch in the box with many wires. That you've discovered that the box with a 3-wire cable has one wire that connects to the load means that the other two wires are travelers.

It's possible that randomly connecting wires will produce a result, but you may end up creating a hidden future fire hazard.

[JEM2114]

If the two locations previously served as a 3-way what was the wiring scheme for that? How old is the wiring plant?

The bundle of white wires are probably common.

[stusviews]

The wiring schematic for all 3-way configurations is identical. The physical routing of the wires differs depending mostly on the structure (frame) at the time the wiring was installed and what else is on that circuit.

[nhk220]

Thanks for the responses.@STUSVIEWS your comments are most helpful. I have determined that the wires in the load box are travelers both, even the white, which confused me. Thanks to everyone for their help.

[nhk220]

OK. So I used the travelers as HOT and Common. Now the box two switch works the light but the box one switch (with no load wire) does not. Do I need to set one as controller and the other as responder? If so, I am having problems getting that to work. Any thoughts?

UPDATE: I got it all working. Thanks to all for your generous and gracious thoughts and ideas. Happy Holidays.

[stusviews]

If both SwitchLincs have line and neutral and only one connects to the load and that one controls the light, then the wiring is correct. The next step is to cross-link the switches.

Turn both SwitchLincs On. This step is important.
Link the Switchlinc with the load as a controller of the other SwitchLinc.
Then link the other SwitchLinc as a controller of the SwitchLinc with the load.

Keep it green in'15

[bobby]

stusviews,can you explain in more details,kind of spoon feed for first time users,on how to cross-link,or point us to a detailed guide,because I am having the same problem,the switch at the bottom of the stairs,does nothing,only the led at the side goes up or down,but he light does not turn on/off,the other switch at the top of the stairs works ok.

[stusviews]

To manually cross-link two Insteon devices so that the act in unison:

Turn both devices On.
At the first device (it doesn't matter which you call the first device), push in in the Set button until the device beeps and the LEDs begin blinking.
At the second device, push in on the Set button until the first device stops blinking. The second device will beep.
Repeat, starting with the second device.

If the devices are dimmers, then you can optionally set the ramp rate and On-level for each device. That should be done prior to cross-linking.

If you are creating the links via software or an app, then create a scene and include both devices as both a controller and a responder. You should control only the scene. If you control the device directly, then only that device will respond, not the linked device(s).