removed wall w/3 way, now can't get light to work

[completelyhis]

I am pretty handy with electrical (wired my whole 1500 sq ft basement w/3 bedroom, theater room, smokes, laundry, 220, sub panel, etc.) but it's been a while, and this is stumping me.

I removed a wall in my house, which had 2 gang switch box on it. The box contained a 3 wire romex that went up to a ceiling light/fan, there were two switches in the box, one for the light, the other for the fan.

On the far side of the room is a 3 gang box, with switches for porch light, entry light, and the light in the light/fan fixture (so the fan could only be turned on by the other end of the 3way).

well, when i disconnected everything from the 2 gang box none of the switches in the 3 gang box had power (all my switches have commons and grounds in the box, btw). So I installed a J box in the attic that spliced the power in to the one that goes to the far switch bank (standard 2 wire), now the front porch and entry way light work, but there is no power switchable to the fan/light.

My assumption is that the traveler didn't go through the light fixture, but...I don't know...Do I have any hope of getting switchable power to the fan/light without re-routing that 3 wire to some other power source? My guess is no, but I thought I'd check. (One thing I did think about was installing a UPB switch in the jbox in the attic, and connecting the 3 wire to it that way, but that would be a jimmy-rig solution that I would feel bad about if I were ever to sell the house.)

Another thought I had is routing that 3 wire romex into another nearby wall where there is a hot switch box, and installing a couple switches there, but the one on the other bank across the way would no longer control it. That's the thing that gets me...where does that one go? it's a 3 wire....it goes up, but doesn't go through the fan/light fixture, so it just comes across to where the other 2gang box was? ARG.

[Kitar]

3-ways can be tricky so the best way I have found is to measure it with a meter. I made up some 20' meter leads for this purpose. I ohm out the connections one at a time with the power off then with power applied test voltages on all wires to the ground of the box. If it is a simple light fixture I remove the bulbs from the circuit as well. This could give you a better idea of what's going where.

I would also look at it as an opportunity to add a dual fixture relay or fan speed controller.

[Uncle Michael]

Another thought I had is routing that 3 wire romex into another nearby wall where there is a hot switch box, and installing a couple switches there, but the one on the other bank across the way would no longer control it. That's the thing that gets me...where does that one go? it's a 3 wire....it goes up, but doesn't go through the fan/light fixture, so it just comes across to where the other 2gang box was? ARG.

If you haven't change the wiring connections on the 3-wire, then I'm guessing that this option could give you switchable power and restore function to the switch in the three gang box (if the diagram below describes the scheme that was used for your lights).