How to Install 3-Way Dimmer Switches!

So, you’ve been leaving your lights on all the time in your hall way, or perhaps you want to ability to dim your lights in your kitchen for a romantic dinner.  Whatever your reasons, there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t upgrade your light switches to dimmable ones.

Having a dimmable switch in your home will save you a LOT of energy in the long run and the your bulbs will last longer.  Besides that, switches will pay for themselves in just matter of 6 months.  Think about the last time your lights were too bright and you weren’t in the room, what if you could have “dimmed” them and saved some energy.  It makes sense in this world where energy is getting more scarce to upgrade your light switches to more green and eco-friendly ones.

Also, you can update your outdated old switches to modern ones, adding value to your home.

Of course, there are motion-detecting switches too (we will get to that later) but for now, dimmable switches can save you money on energy instantly and installation takes 10 minutes, you don’t need to be an electrician.

How to Install 3-Way Dimmers!

Parts List

2 Leviton Dimming Switches – $10.95 on Amazon

2 Screwless Wall Plates – $4.17 on Amazon

Total Cost: $30.24

Also, if you don’t need dimming on both sides, you can swap out a Dimming Switch for one regular 3-way switch such as this one.

 

First, you will have to find the right dimming switches.  For the purposes of this tutorial, we will be using a “3-way” switch.  A 3-way switch means there are 2-switches controlling one or more lights.

For example, you might have two switches, one downstairs and one upstairs, to control your stairway lights.

Above shows the Leviton 3-way switches I bought.  Remember, the 3-way switches have “3-way switch” clearly marked on the label.  If not, they are most likely for just single pole switches (meaning just one switch controlling one light).

(This switch supports both 3-way and Single Pole.)

Next, you need some wallplates.  Some switches come with wallplates but the ones I bought didn’t but this is good since I can choose my own wallplates.

I found these great modern-looking screwless wallplates, that look clean and adds a bit of contemporary feel to your home as shown below:

 

By the way, you don’t need both switches to be dimmable, you can have one dimmable switch and the other just a regular switch, that saves you money and most of the time you only need dimming control on one switch.  (This I found out later so I actually replaced one of them with regular 3-way switches and used the one I took out on another room.)

Once you’ve got your switches and wallplates, make sure you’ve got a screwdriver and a stripping wrench, then you are set to go.

IMPORTANT: First and Foremost, TURN OFF the fuse in your fusebox!!! If you don’t, you will die from electrocution!!!  Double-check that you’ve turned off the correct fuse by turning your light on and off.

 

(Above shows the fusebox with bottom two right fuses turned off, which corresponds to the switches I am swapping out.)

Once you’ve turned off the lights from your fuse box, you can start by unscrewing the old switch.  Unscrew the two screws on the outside and the two inside.  This will let you pop the old switch out.

 

Once the switch is out, you will most likely have 3 to 4 wires attached to the switch.  If you have ground hooked up, you have an extra switch, perhaps marked in “green”.  If you don’t, that’s fine too, most older houses don’t have ground wire.

 

(Note the “black” screw has red wire connected to it, this is actually where the “black” wire should go, previous installer of this 3-way switch used the wires opposite.  Most 3-way switches should be opposite, 2 red wires and 1 black wire connected to the “black” screw”.)

Unscrew the 3-4 wires off the old switch and take the old switch off.

Now, if the previous installer of your 3-way switch was a licensed electrician, you should have 2 wires marked red and 1 wire marked black (and might have a green wire for ground).

As for me, the previous installer did the opposite (DIYed), 2 wires marked black and 1 wire red.  It took me awhile that it was the opposite but in the end I figured it out.

If you have 2 wires marked red and 1 wire marked black, simply connect the red wires to the red wires on the new 3-way switch and connect the black wire to the black wire on the 3-way switch.  Most switch come with twisters you can simply twist the wires together, use that to connect them together.

If you don’t have ground green wire, just cap off the green wire on the new switch.

(Reds on the new switch connected to the black wires on the wall and black wire connected to the red wire on the wall, should be opposite though for most, I have to hack it opposite, and green wired capped off since I don’t have ground wire in the house.)

Now once you are done, do the same thing on the other switch.

After that, go turn the fuse on the fusebox and test to see if the dimmers are working.

(My new dimmers at the highest setting.)

(My new dimmers at low setting, now I can save money on energy!)

 

If it’s working, you can go turn off the fuse on the fusebox then screw in the new switches into the wall.  Then install the wall-plates.

(The finished dimmer switch is a thing of beauty and energy-saving beast!  No more outdated switches in my house!)

If they are not working, you probably did the wiring wrong, try double-checking that you’ve correctly wired them.

As for me in the video below I took while I installed my first 3-way switch, I had to wire them opposite, this could happen to you on an older house.