What is 3 gang power switch and Why Do We Use Them?

Ways & Gangs, Panels & Switches Explained

Sager are exported all over the world and different industries with quality first. Our belief is to provide our customers with more and better high value-added products. Let's create a better future together.

The 1-minute explanation

Ways are how many switches control the same light

• 1-way means a single switch for a single light
• 2-way means two separate switches controlling a single light

Gangs are how many lights (or groups of lights aka circuits) can be controlled from a panel

• 1-gang has a single button to control a single light
• 2-gang has 2 buttons each controlling a separate light
• 3-gang has 3 buttons etc.

A panel is the physical surface for controlling your lights

• A panel can have multiple ‘gangs’ on it, or a single dimmer with on/off, brighter and darker buttons.
• A single panel is square in shape, 86mm x 86mm and has a single switch
• A dual panel is rectangular in shape, 156mm x 86mm, and has two switches

A switch is the electronic control mechanism behind the panel

• A switch can be 1, 2, or 3-gang
• Alternatively, a switch can be a dimmer with three buttons: on/off, brighter, and darker

The long read

Manufacturers don’t really use the same naming for the way their products work which leads to a lot of confusion regarding ways, gangs, panels, and switches. We’re going to clear that up for you. We’ll also include images explaining some of these concepts that you can also find in the product description in our lighting store.

Ways

Let’s start with ways. A ‘way’ is a term for how many switches are controlling the same light. The most simple switch is a standard 1-way on/off switch. Most of the lights in your house will likely be controlled by these 1-way switches. A 1-way switch can have 1, 2, or 3-gangs (we’ll get to gangs in a bit), or have a single dimmer switch.

Some of your lights may be controlled by 2-way switches. A 2-way switch means two separate switches control the same light. They always work in pairs (or more). Examples of 2-way switches are a light in your hallway controlled by switches at each end, or a light in your stairwell controlled by a switch at the top and bottom of the stairs. Confusingly, a 2-way switch is also sometime called a 3-way switch, multi-way switch or hotel switch.

There are two ways in the smart-switch world to have 2-way switches. One is the traditional way where both switches are wired to the light and each other. Another way has a primary and secondary switch only the primary switch is connected to the light and the secondary switch is wirelessly connected to the primary switch. I prefer the traditional way because it still functions even if your WiFi goes down but there are cases where the primary-secondary setup is useful, for example if you don’t have the control wire connecting the two switches.

We carry the traditional version, but if you really need the primary/secondary version reach out to us and I’ll special order them.

Gangs

Gangs are just an electricians way of saying ‘light or groups of lights on a single circuit’. Your standard ceiling lamp is a ‘gang’ but the cluster of LED’s in your bathroom can also a gang. A panel can have up to 3 gangs on it, which means it will also have 3 buttons on it, each for a single gang. Some examples:

• You have a light in your closet, controlled from a single panel, with a single button on it. This is a 1-gang switch
• You have two clusters of lights in your bathroom, a set in the ceiling and a set around the mirror. These are controlled from a single panel with two buttons on it. The first button controls the ceiling lights, the second button controls the mirror lights. This is a 2-gang switch.
• You add a ventilation fan to your bathroom that you can turn on and off from the same panel as your ceiling lights and mirror lights. You do this from a single panel with three buttons on it. This is called a 3-gang switch.

Ways & Gangs

There are a few scenarios where you may need a 2-way, 2-gang (or even 3-gang) switch. In my house I have hallway lights upstairs and downstairs. I can control both sets of hallway lights from two separate panels, one upstairs and one downstairs. Each panel has 2 buttons on it. This is a 2-way, 2-gang example.

Panels

A panel is simply put the control surface for your lights. Depending on what kind of switches you have right now, you’ll probably need a single or dual panel. Sometimes more. Single panels are square 86mm x 86mm, dual panels are wider 156mm x 86mm.

A panel can have up to three buttons on it. They can come in either 1, 2, or 3 gang configurations or with a dimmer switch.

If you’re replacing older switches, these are often 1-gang each. If you have lots lights controlled from a single panel, this means you have really wide (and ugly) panels. I personally suggest replacing these wider panels with multi-gang single panels and filling in the old gaps in. This is a really easy way to clean up and modernize your living spaces.

Switches

A switch is the control mechanism behind the panel. A switch can be 1, 2, or 3-gang. Alternatively, you can have a dimmer switch with on/off, brighter, and darker buttons. We don’t carry, and haven’t found, dimmer switches that are more than 1-way or 1-gang. The switch is also the part that you connect to your wiring. The switches we carry all require at least 3 wires, a L (Line), N (Neutral), and L1 (Load) wire.The Line wire is the wire that comes into the switch from your electrical box. It carries power to the switch. The L1 (L2, L3) wire(s) are the Load wires and carry power from the switch to the light.The Neutral wire completes the circuit and allows the switch itself to be powered. This is also why your lights have a Neutral wire but the wiring to your switch may be missing it. Older mechanical switches didn’t need a Neutral wire because that switch isn’t powered. If you need to bring a Neutral wire to your switch, this requires a bit of elbow grease and fish tape (aka wire snake).Now you know!

For more information, please visit 3 gang power switch.

So now you know your stuff about ways, gangs, panels and switches! Every house is a little different in how it’s wired and can differ in what you want and where you want it. But it’s really just about understanding what you want to do and what the terms are so you can find the exact product you need.

And if you have any questions about what you need, contact me and just let me know! I’m Happy to help.

I want to change my house switch’s for smart ones but I have this question, does it mean they can do 3 switches in parallel? Because any video I’ve seen showing it off they only show 2 switchs.

Another question I have related to those smart switches, if I have a 6 gang can I have 2 or 3 different parallels connected to it?

I’m trying to get started on these smart house/ smart lighting topic but the lighting topic in specific is confusing me a lot.

3-way (and 4-way) is a name used in the US (and possibly Canada and other countries) for the way light switches and lights are wired. A 3-way configuration is 2 light switches to control a light. These are not your normal on/off switches. The switches have an additional traveler terminal. When the switch is switched, instead of breaking the circuit, it redirects power from the common or input terminal to a different terminal. Depending which of the 3 switch position configurations (both up or both down) turns on the light or one up and one down turns off the light.

So if you have a light that can be controlled by more than one switch, you need a smart switch that is specifically made for 3-way circuits (it will say so on the box or in the install instructions).

You might find certain smart switches (Shelly and a few other Zwave or Zigbee products) that have multiple channels. These devices can do “parallel” circuits as you call them. But really each channel is its own light switch/circuit.

Like Nathan said that’s a good point, my bad, I’m in Brazil, we do pretty much the same as UK, intermediate switch is also one of our terms here, difference being our 3-way means 3 switches controlling a single light.

In Brazil to get some variety and some decent prices we need to get these types of stuff on AliExpress (AVATTO, MOES, GIRIER, SONOFF,…). Since those smart switches do intermediate switch through apps, do I need to find switches that explicitly say they do 4-way or would it just be a software type of limitation where inside Tuya for example I would be able to do “infinite” amounts of intermediate switches?

My understanding of these smart 3-ways is that one of them get fully wired, the other one just gets energy and I connect them through the app, so I was wondering, can I get 3 switches, 2 of them just wired with energy, connect the main, fully wired switch to one of them through the app, and then connect the energized ones together controlling the lights?

Since my English is not the best, idk if I did a good job explaining my other question, for example, I have one light switch that’s got 2 of it’s 4 gangs(idk if that’s the right term) in you guys 3-way, so one controls the kitchen lights and the other one is controlling our dining room lights, am I capable of doing that inside the app with those smart switches?

It can depend on the wiring that is used in your country. One gang means one switch control one light, two gang one switch control two lights. I’m talking about wired connection from a switch to a light.
One way or multi way switches means that they are working as a one switch controlling one light or two or more switches controlling one or more lights like ie. light on stairs.
I have multiway switching in my house. It’s setup using three switches and I needed to call electrician to rewire electrical wires.
One switch is main switch meaning it does physically control lights, others are slave switches connected only to live and neutral wire for power. They physically doesn’t control anything,
To make it work you have to use that as a light group or create automation ie. when switch 1 is on switch 2 and 3 is on or pair it in an app if you using app to work as one switch.

Yes you can have multiway switching if you are using it over an app or home assistant.
You are mixing thing here. You can have a smart switch controlling your kitchen light. It’s a one gang one way switch. You can set it up in home assistant if you turn on kitchen light turn on dinning room light and hallway light. It doesnt have anything to do with switch wiring.
Multiway switching just mean that you have two or more switches controlling one light bulb.
The app problem with multiswitching is that you have to use the same switches using the same communication protocol.
In home assistant you can mix them as you like.
I have multiway switching where one switch is zigbee switch and two of them are wifi switches.
In app you can’t do that.

I see, I’m sorry, I’m having a bad time explaining myself here, what I’m trying to say is:

Assuming they’re all the same protocol, same brand, all that, is there a limitation to the slave switch? can it do different multiways on more than one of its gangs to different master switches?

Like for example a 4 gang switch where 2 of those gangs as multiways to different masters and the other 2 gangs of these switch are just fully wired one way, no slaves. Is that possible?

Assuming they’re all the same protocol, same brand, all that, is there a limitation to the slave switch?<

No, at least no for home assistant. For app I don’t know.

can it do different multiways on more than one of its gangs to different master switches?<

You can only have one master switch, all other switches in the same control group are slave switches. If you understand me.

Like for example a 4 gang switch where 2 of those gangs as multiways to different masters and the other 2 gangs of these switch are just fully wired one way, no slaves. Is that possible?

You can have only one master switch and that is it.
For simplicity let say this.
You have hallway and two switches that can turn on/off one light bulb.
One switch is in the beginning of hallway and other is on the end.
You want to replace old switches with smart ones.
One of switches will be master switch, meaning it is connected to live neutral and light wire and can turn on/off light bulb.
Other switch will be slave switch. It’s connected to live and neutral for power but it can’t turn on/off light. When you filp this switch nothing will happen. To make it work with master switch you have to enable in app multiway control, or something similar, for those two switches. Then they will work as one switch and you will be able to turn on/off light bulb from switch 1 and switch 2.

Want more information on 3 gang light switch? Feel free to contact us.