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I bought a home a few years back and have recently started upgrading some of its older 2 prong outlets with the nicer and safer GFCI outlets and some of the older switches with newer ones as well.

My problem comes when I replaced all of our living room outlets with GFCI. I used a voltmeter to make 100% sure the line load sides were all correct and proper.

Then I made it to a three way switch - simple enough I figured just copy wire for wire from one old switch to the new switch and so I did but when I hit the switch to test it, it immediately tripped the GFCI circuits I installed. Thinking it was something I did, I retraced all the wires, referred to the voltmeter to check and recheck everything and it all says it should work fine but when I reset the GFCI it still immediately pop when I turn the power on. The light does come on but only for a split second.

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These two switches appear to both be powered from the same hot wire running in a line with some of the GFCI outlets I installed. One goes to a light outside my front door and one is the three way switch going into the dining room the other switch I located near my back door.

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After more investigation pulling the light from the ceiling I realize there are eight (8) wires in this fixture - 4 black and 4 white - no other colors. After fiddling around I realized that at this junction, if I disconnect certain wires controls the light in my kitchen and the outside light as well at the (known dining room 3 way light).

I am at a total loss as to what to do next. I need to figure out step by step the proper way I should go about it or should I just bite the bullet and hire an expert at this?

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FreeMan
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Suntzu0142
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    Compare the positions of the screws on the old and new switches... – ThreePhaseEel May 02 '21 at 16:12
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    Keep in mind that it is possible that one switch (old or new) has travelers on one side and common on the other side and another could have travelers on top and common on the bottom, etc. - there is no magic formula. It *should* be clear based on where the wires go, color of wires and/or color of screws. **Pictures would help.** – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact May 02 '21 at 16:22
  • Is the black wire going to the top of the right switch looped around a screw on the 3-way switch? What color are the screws on the 3-way switch? Can you upload a picture of the wiring to the other 3-way switch? – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact May 02 '21 at 16:49
  • Uploaded more pics ... yes the hot wire is running I believe from my gfci line of outlets into the three pole switch ( dining room overhead light) then they had it ran to the ordinary switch (working the exterior light ) – Suntzu0142 May 02 '21 at 17:07
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    Read [this on switch and recep replacement](https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/168564/first-time-changing-switches-and-outlets-receptacles-anything-special-i-shoul)... and [this on using too many GFCIs](https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/178088/now-i-realize-i-used-too-many-gfci-outlets-how-can-i-reclaim-them). – Harper - Reinstate Monica May 02 '21 at 19:02
  • Read both those articles and added more data to original post – Suntzu0142 May 02 '21 at 21:54
  • I agree with Harper two many gfci’s, no matter how a 3 way switch is wired the 3 wires should not trip a GFCI even if incorrect, if incorrect the 3 combinations of switch positions would not work properly or both up / down = on and one up one down = off reverse a trailer and it switches the on and off state. Multiple GFCI’s on the same branch circuit can cause tripping especially with new GFCI’s that go through automatic self tests. – Ed Beal May 03 '21 at 13:27

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