Travelers are the pair of conductors linking the two three-way switches that control a light from two places, landed on the brass-colored traveler terminals of each switch. One switch sends power down either traveler and the other picks it up from either one, so flipping either switch changes the state. Four-way switches go between the two three-ways and swap the travelers. Three-wire cable such as 14-3, with its red and black, is the usual way to run them.
Red and black are your travelers between the three-ways, the white's the neutral, don't land it on a switch.
Also heard as
- traveller
Related terms
Switch leg
Conductor that carries switched power from a switch to the light or load it controls.
Hot
Ungrounded, voltage-carrying conductor of a circuit, and as an adjective anything that is live.
Romex
Brand name used for nonmetallic sheathed cable, the plastic-jacketed cable that wires most North American houses.