Thanks for responding to my last request for help. Maybe I can make this a little clearer and Larry or someone can hold my hand on hooking this up.

I have sconce lights hooked up to a circuit that has two 3way switches (one of them a lutron dimmer, the other an on/off switch) and a 4-way on/off switch. The 4-way is in the spot that I need the IR spacer system dimmer (SPS-600M). Most say that this SPS-600M cannot be wired into this 4-way spot, others say it can. I'm assuming it can't.

Here's how the wiring looks behind all the current switches (looking at the switches from the front)

The 3 way Lutron dimmer.

Right side top - brass screw, white wire
Right side bottom - copper screw black wire
Left side Top - ground
Left side bottom - brass screw black wire

The 4-way on/off switch in Theater room:

Right side top - brass screw, white wire
Right side bottom - dark screw white wire
Left side Top - brass screw black wire
Left side bottom - dark screw black wire
Middle bottom - ground

Other 3-way on/off switch

Right side top - brass screw, black wire
Right side bottom - dark screw black wire
Left side Top - brass screw white wire
Left side bottom - ground

What I want to do is to eliminate the "Other 3-way on/off" switch and make it a dummy switch that does nothing. This would then make the "4-way on/off switch in theater room" into a 3-way and the "3-way lutron dimmer" switch would be replaced with an accessory dimmer.

Can anyone tell me what to do with each wire. I know, kind of basic stuff for some, for those others (that's me) this isn't all that easy. Thanks again for the help.

Mark W

Mark

You need to let us know what other wires are in those boxes(and what they are connected to, and we need to know which wires are your "line"(120vac) & "load"(wire to fixtues/s)

To test for this, connect a voltage tester or test light, to the Copper Screw of the dimmer and to the ground screw, while testing turn the light on & off, if the tester goes on & off this is your "LOAD"
If it stays on it is your "Load"

John

"Here I come to save the dayyyyyyyy!"

Okay, this is an easy one now. I suggest you read lesson #2 in the electric primer. Go ahead, I'll walt. All done? Okay. Remember, you're working with live wires! Be careful! Hire an electrician if you're less than sure of what you're doing.

Step one in eliminating the 4-way is to identify which pair of travelers come from which 3-way. The easiest way to do this is to pull out the 4-way and one of the 3-ways, and use a tester; in each instance, test to ground or a neutral.

The black'n'white on the dark terminals come from one 3-way, and the black'n'white on the light terminals come from the other 3-way. We need to know which. Here's how:

At each 3-way, the black on the darker terminal (the 'common') is either the always-hot wire or the switched-hot wire. The other two wires, one white and one black, are the travelers.

With the light on or off, doesn't matter which, check which of the travelers is hot. Now go to the 4-way, and see which wire is hot in each pair: the light-screw pair and the dark-screw pair.

It could be both whites, both blacks, or one of each. If it's one of each, you know which pair is which by which pair of travelers matches the 3-way's travelers. If both hots are the same color, then flip the 4-way.

One of the pairs will now be swapped; hot will have switched colors on one pair. Now go back to the 3-way and check for hots on the travelers.

If the colors have swapped there, you've found the other end of the pair that swapped at the 4-way; if they haven't swapped, then they are the other end of the pair that didn't swap at the 4-way.

Okay, now you know which travelers come from the switch you want to eliminate. It's all downhill from here! Don't forget to kill the circuit! Just cap the white wire at both ends, and connect the black common to the black traveler.

You should be able to figure out the rest. The black traveler of the capped-white-wire pair has become the common. In other words, the common has been extended to the ex-4-way location.

Now, you can install whatever controller you need wherever you need to. Just make sure what you use is designed to be used together in a 3-way switching arrangement.

I hope this was simple enough while still being informative enough to be helpful.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com