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My current light switch are only wired with 2 cables: live (black) + ground (white). These is also a neutral in the box, not directly connected to the switch at the moment..

I want to replace my switch by a new one, which has 2 live wire connections. How am I supposed to handle these 2, since I apparently only have 1 live wire? Can I even do it? light switches

I have 4 light switch in the box, hence the number of cables shown here. Each switch has only 2 cables. On the picture we see a black & white ones which are coming from one switch. The white cable goes to the red screw, the black goes into the box. Inside the box, there are also 4 white cables all tied together with a screw.

Thanks for your help!

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    Can you get us a better photo of the inside of the box?
    – ThreePhaseEel
    Commented Sep 25, 2016 at 20:17
  • 2
    The white wire is not a ground. The white is the grounded conductor, also commonly called the neutral. But it is a circuit conductor, it's the return path for the circuit. The green or bare wire is the grounding conductor, commonly called the ground or earth wire.
    – Craig Tullis
    Commented Sep 25, 2016 at 22:51
  • I have 4 light switch in the box, hence the number of cables shown here. Each switch has only 2 cables. On the picture we see a black & white ones which are coming from one switch. The white cable goes to the red screw, the black goes into the box. Inside the box, there are also 4 white cables all tied together with a screw.
    – lourson
    Commented Sep 27, 2016 at 3:21

1 Answer 1

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Assuming that all 4 switches go directly to 4 different lights. Each light has to have a hot switch leg and a nuetral. In the switch box there has to be a branch circuit consisting of a hot wire (if Romex, the black wire) and a nuetral wire (if Romex, the white wire). All the light fixtures will have two wires comming into the switch box. Hook all the whites together along with the feed nuetral from the branch circuit. Hook one side of each light switch screw to to the branch circuit Hot wire. Hook the other side of the each light switch screw to the wire that goes to one of the four light fixtures. Looking at your smart switch it looks like it needs a nuetral hooked to the white wire and the two blacks are for the hot wire from the branch circuit and the other black is a switch leg that goes to which ever light fixture you are trying to control with the smart switch.

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