Three way switch - FIXTURES IN MIDDLE

[av]

that was a mistake on my part. hasty writing amidst anxiety of problem.

ok... thread is closed now everybody.

av

[HerHusband]

AV,

Does your 2x6 build-up allow any space for routing a new cable between switches?

What about the option of running a wire behind the baseboards?

Is there ANY way to get a cable from one switch to the other?

Anthony

[av]

I appreciate your persistance. Really! Perhaps it is "error fatigue" (this was hardly my first mistake in the project) but I just don't think there's a way.

The wire to the first switch is "entombed" in stress skin paneling. (sandwich of sheetrock, styrene foam, and chipboard). Even if you were to convince me to remove the (very expensive) pine paneling that is covering the wall, and rout a channel in the chipboard (I already had to do that with a previous problem) and even if I COULD then manage a way to get that wire back down through the basebent, over to the nearest point of the second switch, I'd still have to run it under about 10 feet of flooring that is pretty much filled with insulation(NO I won't rip up the floor!) and then rip up a second very expensive pine paneling (that was a bitch to get into place because I had to shimmy it behind an angle bracing of the post and beam). In other words, quite a few IF's with no assurance of success, but alot of assurance of leaving myself a real ripped out mess.

I think the best option is to just run some sort of external channel from fixture to fixture to fixture that will parallel in each fixture with a piece of 12/2. No?

The other option I've been toying with is to build what would be a large casing that would cover the space of all three fixtures, which would be enclosed with frosted glass or plexi, and then just put in flourescents behind all that!

For now I'm living with one fixture working and I'm waiting for my second wind. :o)

av

[HA HA Budys Here]

Here's another option:

What kind of fixtures are they?

If they each use say... 2 20 watt bulbs (like brass colonial candalabras) then you *could* put all 3 fixtures in series, and then triple the wattage of the lamps to 60 watts each, giving you about 20 watts of light from each.

Or, if each fixture uses 1 typical type A edison lamp, same drill- triple the wattage and wire the 3 lights in series.

[HerHusband]

AV,

No problem. I'm kind of in the middle of fixing an oversight in a shower I'm working on, so I understand the frustration...

I don't mean to be pushy, just trying to help out if I can...

Don't stress skins have "channels" in them for routing wires? How did the wire get in the panel in the first place?

Also, you could probably pick up one of those really long (4 or 5 feet) flexible remodeling drill bits at Lowes, and drill down through the panel easy enough.

Any chance of drilling a hole down to the basement from each switch, then run the wire from hole to hole in the basement. This would be complicated, of course, if the basement ceiling is finished.

If you don't mind living with the appearance.

How far apart are the fixtures? Could you use one of those long remodeling bits to drill through the stress skin insulation to run the extra cable from box to box?

That would work too, if you don't mind the appearance. You might even be able to find a ready to go fixture at HD or Lowes that would cover the whole set.

I suppose you could get creative and build a drop down panel (1" thick or so) that you could run the cable through. Then use box extenders and mount your original fixtures. Finished appropriately, it could look like a fancy custom job.

Otherwise, look into wireless, or possibly even the series wiring another poster suggested (one bulb goes out, they all go out).

Good luck! Hope it all works out...

Anthony