I'm trying to fix an uncompleted installation of a two-way switch.
One switch, the light and all the wiring have been installed by someone else, with whom we can't have any contact soon.
I bought the second switch and tried to install it. I blindly tried different combinations and had those results:
- With some wire combinations, it didn't work at all.
- With some others, it worked 3/4 times, but in some positions, one switch didn't work until I reached the other one.
- When bridging all wires of the second switch together, the first switch controlled the lamp (ON/OFF) -- but I now doubt it, maybe some of them wasn't wired correctly?
In no case was it working fully as expected, but I didn't try all combinations.
I have a basic understanding of the way it should work when everything is wired correctly.
I tried to systematically understand the consequences of inverting wires in all combinations, and came to the conclusion that it should either
- work as expected
- work 3/4 times
- everything is shortcut and the light is always on
So, if I understand correctly, the wiring is wrong. The colors seem random and non-standard, so I can't rely on that.
Is this correct? Is this something I can easily fix?
UPDATE: each switch is connected to 3 wires coming out of the wall.
UPDATE 2: I'm living in Belgium, but the colors of the wires in my walls don't seem to be the national, or even less the European ones ;-)