illuminated switches

[ohenry]

I am replacing old light switches with illuminated switches. Some switches are single-pole, some are 3-way.

On the 3-way switches, one that I have hooked up works fine -- glows orange when the light is off.

The others all glow very dimly or not at all.

For one light, I believe some one or both of the old 3-way switches had been wired incorrectly. After testing, I seem to have all the wires connected properly now. The light works fine. However, when it's off, one of the switches barely glows, and the other doesn't glow at all.

On another light, one of the 3-way switches glows brightly, the other's very dim.

So it doesn't seem to be a matter of one light's circuit being a problem, because one switch glows well, while the other doesn't.

I have tried changing out the switches for other new ones, but those don't work any better, so it seems like there's some other problem causing these to work poorly. Any ideas?

[HayZee518]

I have a set of three ways in my hallway as do you. One switch is glowing brightly the other one is out. I have never taken one apart but what I'm thinking is that the neon lamp inside is wired into the two travelers without the current limiting resistor usually found in neon test lights rated 90 to 600 vac. The mere presence of an ac source causes one side of the neon to glow. In a complete circuit as in a three way there isn't a complete path because one of the travelrs is disconnected from the other, but when the switch is switched off there's sort of a return path back to the original switch. surface resistance I don't knoiw what you'd call it.