Electrical help: Dimmer replacement

Pat I'm thinking this box should have a 14/3 red and black travelers white to neutrals, and a 2 wire black switch leg and white to neutral.
 
Ok let me see if I can describe what’s in the 2nd box. There are three sets of red/white/black/ground wires entering the box. I assume that’s the 14/3 you’re referring to. The left switch (the one in question) is connected to one of these sets as follows:

The red wire from the box is connected to the yellow wire on the switch

The black wire from the box is connected to the black wire on the switch.

The white wire from the box is capped.

There are no other wires coming from the switch than the yellow and black.

CF2AA563-13C5-4FE6-BF78-CE273D9161A0.jpeg
 
Mtbdog said:
Pat I'm thinking this box should have a 14/3 red and black travelers white to neutrals, and a 2 wire black switch leg and white to neutral.
Click to expand...

It does have a 14/3 - The white wire being capped means the remote switch was signaling back to the original switch, vs being a true 3-way.
So now i'm not sure how the load is wired. it would usually be the white wire returning from the remote wrapped with black tape hooked to the black going to the light.IMG_0985.JPG

but as you mentioned, there are a couple ways to wire a 3 way.
 
So do I need a three way switch after all? I assume so but want to check before heading to the store
 
The new 3 way switch has the same screw configuration as the other two 3-ways. So…
1) I assume I should rig up the red white and black the same way on the new switch as the other ones?
2) none of the other two switches (nor the old one I’m replacing) have ground wires attached to them. The ground wires from the 14/3 are all wire-nutted together in the back of the box. Do I need to worry about that?
DFF4B67C-467E-437A-91DF-CC7F9D28DA68.jpeg
 
I went ahead and tried to connect the new switch as above but no luck. The lights work when the dimmer is on, but they cannot be turned off or on by the remote switch. Thoughts?
 
Black wire goes to black screw on switch. Red and white to the other 2 brass screws. Yes you should tail a ground for all the switches.
 
The capped white wire needs to be involved.

Look at my diagram and see it the wires match up. Might be different colors per Frank's standard.

If I were to decide, I'd figure out where a single pole switch would go, then insert the 3way combo into that path
 
Mtbdog said:
Black wire goes to black screw on switch. Red and white to the other 2 brass screws. Yes you should tail a ground for all the switches.
Click to expand...
Yep that’s how I have it (except for the ground). But no worky.7BA831FF-4D5F-49A0-AAE7-0630A3CDA20C.jpeg
 
Hold on a minute, use the white on the black screw. The white of the 14/3 is connected to the switch leg black. I see it in the first box behind the whites.
 
Mtbdog said:
In the first box where does the black wire from the 14/3 go. What is it connected to?
Click to expand...
The first box is a plastic bowl of spaghetti. I may have to draw a diagram but from what I see there are three 14/3’s and 4 14/2’s. The black wires from the three 14/3’s are all wound together along with the black wire from the new dimmer.
 
icebiker said:
The first box is a plastic bowl of spaghetti. I may have to draw a diagram but from what I see there are three 14/3’s and 4 14/2’s. The black wires from the three 14/3’s are all wound together along with the black wire from the new dimmer.
Click to expand...
Yeah that makes sense. 3 14/3 for the 3 ways, 3 14/2 for switch legs, and 1 14/2 feed.
 
What are the 3 wires of the 14/3 in the first box connected to.
Red to the dimmer?
Black to the dimmer?
White goes where?
 
Pat do you think they had to make a funky splice for the electronic 3 way. I'm thinking he's got to redo the splice. I'm thinking that black wire hooked up to the original dimmer is actually the switch leg. The dimmer gets both the feed and the switch leg.
 
Mtbdog said:
Pat do you think they had to make a funky splice for the electronic 3 way. I'm thinking he's got to redo the splice. I'm thinking that black wire hooked up to the original dimmer is actually the switch leg. The dimmer gets both the feed and the switch leg.
Click to expand...

I'll need to find the wiring diagram for the original. Might be wired through the fixture.
 
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