# Do three way switches bother you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 16, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-three-way-switches-bother-you/521522 "2009-12-16T20:17:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-three-way-switches-bother-you/521522/41 "2009-12-19T01:52:56Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > What’s a three way switch? I think I know what you’re talking about from the context, but I haven’t heard them called that. What are the three “ways”? We electricians have developed a language simply to make things more complicated then they actually are, well that’s my theory anyway. So many things can’t be explained with logic. Three way switch has three terminals. 4 way has 4 terminals. Yet we don’t call a 2 terminal switch a 2 way that’s a single pole. A 2 pole also has 4 screws too buts that’s different so not a 4 way… ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-three-way-switches-bother-you/521522/42 "2009-12-19T01:56:52Z")
> [@HongKongFooey](#): > > Off-topic: around here we call them travelers. Is that a local thing or do you use that term as well in your area? It might be like wire nuts/marrettes. If you ask for a wire nut around here you’ll get nothing but a blank stare.[/hijack] Everyone I deal with calls the carriers but travelers wouldn’t get a blank stare I’ve heard them referred to as travelers as well. If you asked for marrettes you’d get a blank stare ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-three-way-switches-bother-you/521522/43 "2009-12-19T02:18:29Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > If you asked for marrettes you’d get a blank stare I figured that. 😃 > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > What’s a three way switch? I think I know what you’re talking about from the context, but I haven’t heard them called that. What are the three “ways”? The easiest way to keep the ways straight is to realise that with a three-way switch there are three terminals that will at some point or another have current flowing through them. A four-way switch has four terminals providing a current path at one point or another. A Double-pole single-throw could be said to have four “ways” but as **boytyperanma** says you would never call it that in the field because it’s not what people want when they ask for a 4-way switch. I work in automation and we have a lot of hydraulic and pneumatic control valves (solenoids) where the same terminology is used in determining what valve you want for an application. They get even more confusing again because there are so many different combinations out there. ---
**Author:** ![fandango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5ac83/32.png) [@fandango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fandango)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-three-way-switches-bother-you/521522/44 "2009-12-19T02:19:55Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > So, what do you do about kitchen appliances? Take them to auto body shops to get the brand names painted over in a color that matches the rest of the appliance? 😃 > > I’ve never seen switches with the brand name emblazoned in huge letters across the front, like the glowing brand name on some LCD televisions. I’ve seen the name on the _back_ of the switch, of course, but it’s invisible to public view. Appliances don’t bother me so much, I think because they aren’t “built-in”–at least where I live. Look in the lightswitch aisle of Home Depot, and you’ll see it is a growing trend to emblazon the company name on the front of the switch or the switchplate. But then again, I took off all the name plates from my luggage, as well as coats at times. Still, it is nice to know from this thread that I am not the only one irked by this. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-three-way-switches-bother-you/521522/45 "2009-12-19T19:29:42Z")
I’ve swapped out 3-way switch installations so that both up or both down = off & one each way = on. The opposite parity bugs me. As with others above, I also dislike the growing trend to stick ever more prominent brand names on ever more merchandise. Brand names on light switches? … F\*\*k that company; I wouldn’t buy 'em. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-three-way-switches-bother-you/521522/46 "2009-12-20T00:58:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’ve swapped out 3-way switch installations so that both up or both down = off & one each way = on. The opposite parity bugs me. Having a 4 way switch might make your head explode. Be careful in future home purchases. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-three-way-switches-bother-you/521522/47 "2009-12-20T02:00:18Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > What’s a three way switch? I think I know what you’re talking about from the context, but I haven’t heard them called that. What are the three “ways”? Three-way switches are used to control lighting from two different locations. If you want to control it from three locations (or more), you must install a 4-way switch (or more) in the circuit. See other posts for the difference between the devices. ---
**Author:** ![NoiseBomb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/49beb7/32.png) [@NoiseBomb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoiseBomb)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-three-way-switches-bother-you/521522/48 "2009-12-20T05:44:25Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > But what’s \*\*\*really \*\*\*annoying is the switch in my back hall that does absolutely nothing. I lived in a place that had one of those… by the front door. Well, OK, it was an apartment, so it was the only door. I must have spent over an hour trying every outlet in the place, plus looking on the ceiling and wall outside for some sign of a light fixture that has been removed at some point. No sign of anything. I even took the faceplate off and looked in the box. No wires at all near the thing. What bothered me more for a while after I moved was that I had forgotten to ask the office what it might have been for. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-three-way-switches-bother-you/521522.md?page=2)