Light Switch Wiring
- Thread starter texasman
- Start date
Help Support House Repair Talk:
nealtw
Contractor retired
Ya that's not the point. Power goes thru the switch so if it is turn on the will both have power.
There is nothing to test here. The two black wire each have there own place and them must go in the correct spot.
On the back of the switch it will say line beside one screw and which you need to have the power to.
The other screw will be marked load the black wire from the light goes to it.
The white wire will go the screw marked common.
The forth screw came with a warning sticker on and should not be used.
I suspect that three screws are brass coloured and one is silver coloured and that would be the common screw.
They may have made there wire look silver to help guide you to put it to the silver screw, if you scrape it you may find that it is copper after all.
texasman
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texasman
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- Joined
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I got it connected and the switch works now. Thank you all for all your help. Now another question. I was wanting to add the same switch to my outdoor flood light. I pulled the switch out and all it has is a single white cable and a single black cable. That's all in the entire box. Why is there only 2 cables. Thanks.
nealtw
Contractor retired
The power cable goes to the light first and all you have is a switch leg. I have another look at that.
Glad you got that one, It's so simple once you get it.
Glad you got that one, It's so simple once you get it.
nealtw
Contractor retired
As is it simply is not going to work, The only option would be to remove that 2 wire and replace the wire with a three wire. Are you into taking walls apart.
Perhaps they have something different that would to the light instead of the switch.
nealtw
Contractor retired
Found one you would install near the light and would work with your remote but likely wouldn't work from old switch, so you would need a wireless switch too.
http://www.digikey.ca/product-highlights/ca/en/illumra-wireless-3-wire-relay/94
Quit while you are ahead, would be a good idea.
http://www.digikey.ca/product-highlights/ca/en/illumra-wireless-3-wire-relay/94
Quit while you are ahead, would be a good idea.
slownsteady
Well-Known Member
I'm betting that you mean there are two wires in a single jacket. This is the most basic switch setup you can have. Get a basic single pole switch and it is as easy as it gets.
http://www.diyadvice.com/diy/electrical/switches-receptacles/replacing-single-pole-switch/
nealtw
Contractor retired
The switch he has for is switching the lights with his phone, it needs it's own neutral.
slownsteady
Well-Known Member
nealtw
Contractor retired
Lesson 1: read the manual (my bad).
They make it clear that it will work with wiring already in place in the home but at no time do they mention that it won't work on a switch leg. If it dosn't say it on the packaging, it's just dumb.
slownsteady
Well-Known Member
Not dumb from the manufacturer's point of view. They make the sale, and most people won't return them.
Nowadays most younger electricians always try to bring the feed to the switch banks, so there is a neutral present there. It is simpler to troubleshoot, and it is better for purposes such as the newer electronic switches, which do call out a neutral. The old school electricians liked to get creative to save on wire by running 3-wire to share a neutral or send feeds to the lights with a 2-wire to the switch. This was fine 10-15 years ago, but with the code requiring arc fault protection throughout the house now, there has to be a neutral everywhere now, and not shared either.
So are you saying that code now disallows power originating at the light? Also are multi wire branch circuits with a shared neutral also now disallowed?
I was following this thread a little and I also at first missed that this switch was a special device that could be remotely operated. When I figured out what it was I just assumed it wasnt that it needed a neutral so much to work but that it needed its own source of power to keep it active and waiting to be turned on. The attachment is to small for me to really read all of what it says.
Code does not disallow power originating at the fixture. It just requires a neutral at the light switch. That means you need to bring three wires down to the switch instead of just two previously used for switch loops.
