today I'm gonna show you how to install
a four-way switch hi my name is Craig
Michoud and I am the electrical
instructor today I'm going to show you
how to install a four-way switch a
four-way switch is a switch that we add
into a 3-way circuit so if you watch my
video on how to install 3-way switches
which I'm sure it's up in the link here
you can click that and watch that first
that would actually make more sense what
we're basically doing is taking that
circuit that's set of three ways and
we're going to install a four-way switch
meaning instead of switching from two
locations now we're gonna switch from
three you have to have two three ways in
order for you to be able to switch from
more than one location controlling one
or a multiple of lights so if I want to
switch from you know from two or more
spaces I have to then insert a four-way
switch now if I want to use if I want to
have four switching locations or five
switching locations I'm just gonna add
four ways into my circuit here if you
watched my 3-way video then you would
know that you need two three ways than
the three-way one is going to get fed
and the other is gonna get switched now
like I said before there are multiple
different ways you can wire them you can
feed a switch from different locations
you know but we're not going to get into
that we're talking very basic this is
for the basic person to do a basic
circuit which is very self-explanatory
ok so let's get into it
okay well what is a four-way switch okay
a four-way switch looks like this and it
has four terminals two on this side and
two on this side if you look closely you
can see we have what's called an input
and an output
now that input or output really doesn't
matter which switch is controlling which
switch all we need to understand is
those two screws work together so in
this one here you can see I have a black
screw and aged brass screw on this side
I have a
laughs screw Nebraska Oh meaning my
input is my black screws and my output
is my brass grill when we put the wires
on the screw we got to make sure that
one pair of wires comes into the input
and the other pair of wires go on to our
output those again are called our
travellers our travellers is what is
carrying our power from one side of the
switch to the other because in a
four-way switch it's basically you're
just making and breaking contacts and
the power is either turning on or
turning off and redirecting the power
once your three-way starts working it's
gonna start redirecting power also and
that's what gets our light to turn out
which I'll show you here in a minute
make sure you stay to the end because
what I'll show you is how to fix or
troubleshoot a problem that you may have
in your circuit if you hook up this
wrong okay so just like when we did the
three-way switches what we're gonna do
is we're gonna splice this box basically
this box has two three wires as it black
has a black a red and a white and a
ground screw in one and then you have a
black a red a white and a ground wire
and the other one you can see that this
wire this three wire here going to this
three-way switch is run through here
comes in to one side here this wire here
goes up and over and goes into our other
three-way so with that being said what
we have to do is we have to pair them so
remember if you again if you watch the
video and I'll drop it again in the link
the three way video will show you our
black and our red in this circuit are
going to be our travelers so we're gonna
take these wires we're gonna move them
up on out of the way now I know those
wires are going on my switches so
everything else now has to be spliced
we're gonna start with the with the
ground wire and remember the ground wire
is stripped long because we're going to
use a greeny
so remember what we have to do we have
to take our wire fold them together cut
it off give it a little bit of a twist a
greeny remember a green green wine or
nut has a hole in it in order to slide
the wire on we're gonna bring it right
to where the other wire is connected and
we're going to twist it make it nice and
tight give it a little bit of a tug
doesn't come off life is good we're
gonna fold it and get it into the back
of the box the key to getting the bare
copper wire in that a back of the box
means we have less of an opportunity of
it shorting out on our screws our white
wires are going to be our neutral that's
going to go from our feed all the way
through to our other three wire and up
into our light fixture so that's what's
going to complete our circuit so we're
gonna take this I'm gonna splice it
take our wiring up tuck it back in the
box
okay so remember what I showed you input
is on the top output is on the bottom
does it matter which one of these are
input and output it really doesn't
matter okay we're just going to remember
that one pair of these wires will go to
the top and the other pair of the wires
will go to the bottom so here let me get
that for you
remember stripping wire you want to
strip about three quarters of an inch
use your stripper give it a little bit
of a hook and while I'm at it I might as
well do my ground all right the key is
to always make sure your wires are
separate okay make sure one pair going
to this three-way this pair are going to
this three-way they're separate so you
know which one's going to be top or
bottom and like I said before it doesn't
matter which one that which one goes top
or bottom so what we're going to do is
we're going to grab this side here and
we're going to put this on the input or
the top
now that's complete now we're going to
take the other wire and we're gonna put
that on the output or the bottom sort of
bottom of the switch does it matter Reds
on the same side blacks on the same side
it doesn't so just for this case what
we're gonna do is we're gonna do this
just like this around here because I'm
already looking at it
get down to the other side
gonna install our green ground and we're
gonna throw it in the box okay so our
4-way is now wired in okay secure it
into the box everything is good okay so
now all we have to do is turn the power
on test it and see if we did it
correctly all right so now I'm gonna
flip switch light comes on I'm gonna
flip the next switch our four-way light
goes off I'm going to flip the three-way
light goes on I'm gonna come back to my
three-way and I'm gonna flip the switch
and go back to my 4-way flip the switch
I'm gonna go back to my three-way flip
to switch back to my three-way my 4-way
3-way 4-way 3-way like I said it's very
simple all you have to do is make sure
you have your pair of travelers coming
from one three-way going to one 4-way
the input and you have from your other
3-way going into your output this
doesn't get any easier it's written
right on the device you know it's in the
directions all you have to remember is
when you're using your travelers you
have to know what color you're using
land those wires splice the white
through if you're using you know if
you're if you're using the neutral
through your box but for the most part
guys all you're adding is two travelers
to the top two travelers to the bottom
the four-way switch is installed easy
Pete all right little bonus material
here I'm gonna show you how to
troubleshoot a four-way when a wire
becomes crossed let me show you what I'm
talking about how many people been in
the house you flip the switch on flip
the switch off you flip the switch on oh
it doesn't work oh no let's go back we
flip this one we flip this one life is
good
we flip this one we come back to it
nothing happened oh this one happens
nothing happens or four-way apart so we
can pick the problem
okay when I trace out my wires I see
that I have these two wires are swapped
that's what I'm going to do is I'm going
to reverse them and I'm going to put
them on the same side because remember
you feed are you bring one pair of wires
into the input and one pair to the
output
okay so we reverse the wires we put the
screws back to back in novel
troubleshooting now the powers on flip
switch
very basic okay so I hope you enjoyed
the bonus material again wiring it
four-way is not that difficult you just
have to follow the steps remember when
you're dealing with a more than one
switch location you're gonna have two
threeways
and a four-way if you have more you're
gonna add more four ways it's very basic
very simple now if you liked my video do
me a favor give me a thumbs up if you
have any questions or comments please do
me a favor leave them down below I'd
love to hear from you guys at the same
time you can always contact me at Sparky
instructor at gmail.com as always have a
great day and be safe