A three wire cable is typically installed between the two 3 way switch locations to provide the switching using the traveler set which is not part of a single pole switch. Travelers are the two switched wires running between three way or four way switches to operate lights from multiple locations.
Multiway Switching Wikipedia
What is a traveler wire. This is a switch that has four terminals on it excluding the ground wire. This is the third usually black colored terminal on a three way switch. The traveler wires run between the two 3 way switches offering two potential pathways to complete the circuit and send power onward to the light fixture. The travelers of each switch are connect together using cable c4 taped white and red wires. The black and red wires are travelers and are connected to the traveler screw terminals on the two switches. This provides two alternate pathways for hot current to flow between the switchesthis is what allows the switches to turn the lights on and off in a flexible manner.
A traveler wire is a wire usually one of two that carries the supply voltage through a multi way 3 way 4 way switching arrangement. Depending upon circuit configuration swxswxlt or swxltswx. In the diagrams below the travelers will always be the red and black wires of a 143 cable. The switches are then connected to each other by a pair of wires called travelers or strappers in the uk and the lamp is connected to the common line of the second switch as shown. The cable run linking the two switches is made with 3 wire cable. In the traveler system also called the common system the power line hot shown in red is fed into the common terminal of one of the switches.
It makes no difference which traveler wire goes to which traveler terminal on the switch. Depending on the arrangement of the switches a given segment of wire may be passing current from the supply through the load connected only to the supply connected only to the load or completely isolated from both ends of the circuit. The traveler terminals are interchangeable. Here is a link to some 3 way switch wiring diagrams that should be very helpful. The taped white wire of cable c3 is the hot to the light lt2 where the red wire of cable c2 is used to splice the hot to the next light lt1.
Gallery of What Is A Traveler Wire
