New answers tagged switch
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If this ever worked correctly someone changed the switches and messed up the feeder , I think in the closet , as it has to be turned on for the room light to work , kill the power and swap the wires in that switch and that may fix your problem.
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Your question is pretty broad, so this answer will be as well.
When troubleshooting issues like this, you are going to have to open up electrical boxes, and look at all the wires inside. This normally means pulling out the light switches (don't disconnect anything unless it is clearly labeled for later) and the light fixtures to get a clear picture of what ...
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Flip one side from L1 to L2
Your switches are intended for both single-pole and multi-way (multi-location) applications; as a result, both the "up" and the "down" positions on the switch connect COM to another terminal (either L1 or L2, depending on which position we're talking about), instead of having only one position that connects the terminals together,...
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You're going to need a deep socket or maybe a needle nosed pliers.
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The middle image clearly shows a nut at the bottom of the recess or hole.
Get some deep thin wall sockets and it should come undone easily.
Or undo the flathead screws and make the wires safe then break the base. Then remove or grind down the threads...
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The right duplex outlet has the brass tab removed and the two brass hot screws are NOT connected together when the tab is removed. Only the bottom outlet 'half' is switched. The top half is a normal outlet that is not switched.
Forget all those three wires to the left of the switch. They are not needed.
That red wire supply wire is bogus and is not ...
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Doesn't sound like this will be possible. What you have now in the switch box is just a switch loop--hot in and hot out. There's no neutral return path, which would be required for your light.
If you were to connect your light to what's there it would probably work, but everything that gets plugged into the outlet thereafter would have its supply voltage ...
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Can't do it
Here's the problem. Your original installation only has the two wires, even though it controls both light and fan. This means the original switch was not a plain switch. It was a complex beast, which multiplexed both fan and light control onto those two wires.
It can be fairly guessed that it's having a conversation either with a smart fan,...
answered Jan 5 at 21:59
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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Ok for your timer. Black in your powersource from the panel. Red is your load, or the object you want to time for instance an outdoor security light. White is your neutral wire. Green/bare copper is your groundimg wire. This keeps you amd your equipment safe. Without a ground wire if you make contact with Hot/neutral or hot/ground or a neutral with a load ...
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The switches that have jumper cables is just an old method of giving both switches power from a single wire. That is most likely your constant hot btw. All a switch does is break the hot into 2 so that it cant carry power. That means that you could theoretically have 100 switches on just one wire if you kept daisy chaining them lol i dont recommend that.
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I'm an electrician. Switches have two "hots" one is the switchleg (switch to light) the other is the line in. The whites are neutrals, possibly for the lights and nearby outlets. The bare copper is ground and will be tied to the box itself. If you have a voltage tester you will notice the switch legs are only hot when the switch in in the on position. At the ...
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Ok let me start with the basics... wire conducts electricity regardless of the color surrounding it.
Standards are utilized so that we all understand what the wire in hand is doing... black(aka hot) comes from the power company... shouldn't have but often does have a load ( energy consuming device upon it).
White is the neutral (return the power to the ...
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North American wiring uses the following color codes:
green, yellow/grreen, bare -- ground
white, gray - neutral
all other colors - any hot
In 240V 3-phase delta, wild leg must be orange, but you'll never see that.
That is the sum total of color coding requirements in NEC.
As you can see, your boxes comply. Black is legal for any hot (except a wild ...
answered Dec 30 '19 at 1:08
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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6
Yes, this is correct. In fact this is the preferred way to wire light switches.
One cable brings ground, neutral, and live in,
live goes to the switch then a different cable takes live, neutral, and ground up to the light socket.
The white neutral wires are not connected to the switches because mechanical switches do not need electric power to operate.
...
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This needs to be done in a 2-step process.
Rewire it so one of the switches powers both lights.
For this, we need to run a /2 cable between the switches. (or alternately, from the controlling switch direct to the light). If you use /3 cable, leave the full length intact on the useless wire, but cap it off. Could come in handy later.
Inside the non-...
answered Dec 29 '19 at 17:57
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14
Hold on. You can't just eliminate lights
You may notice that in almost any room you go into, anywhere, you have an intuition as to where to reach for the light switch. The light switch is in an expected location. That's not by accident. That's established in the Building Codes. It is mandatory.
It also comes up in NEC Section 210.70(A)(1), which ...
answered Dec 29 '19 at 17:07
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6
Replacing the box and patching drywall, etc. is a lot of work. So the usual answer is:
Cap the "extra" wire on both ends
Install a single switch + blank plate:
The trick is that the wiring can vary a bit. The typical configuration will either be:
Hot/Neutral into switch box, hot connected to both switches, neutral passes through
Neutral/Switched Hot Fan/...
answered Dec 29 '19 at 15:48
manassehkatz-Reinstate Monica
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You have a few options...
Cap the extra wires in the ceiling box and do nothing else.
Cap the unused wires in both boxes and install a single-sided cover plate.
Remove the switch box, install a deep single-gang box, cap the wires in both boxes, and repair the drywall. Whether you can do this option depends on how many cables come into the box, as fill rules ...
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Be VERY Careful What You Install
With plugged in items, if there is a problem it is usually quite obvious and, very importantly, very easy to resolve quickly - just unplug it.
With hardwired items, including smart switches, timers, touch switches (like this one), motion sensors, etc., if there are problems they may manifest themselves by simply dying (...
answered Dec 26 '19 at 15:17
manassehkatz-Reinstate Monica
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You will need to verify this with a voltage tester but my guess is that LB2 is your hot, line, in and R is your switched hot to that light. So connect all grounds together and to the switch. Connect NW1, NW2 and NW3 together (they already appear to be connected). Connect BL2 to the L terminal on the switch. Then connect LB1, red & LB3 to L1, L2 & ...
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The answers here make sense if u r using a volt meter with two pins across the switch. But i think he's asking when testing with a pen tester.
I have the same problem. Two lines feeding into two switches. Both loads connected to each switch works so I know the circuit is fine. Even both pilot lights connected to the switches light up.
But when I pin the ...
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If any of your smart devices don't already have pigtails, add them for Line (black), Neutral (white) and Safety Ground (green, yellow/green or bare).
Let's mark wires with colored tape
You must use bare, green or yellow/green for safety ground. All these always join.
You must use white or gray for neutral.
Hots can be anything else. For always-hot black is ...
answered Dec 21 '19 at 18:29
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The black wire from the /2 cable needs to be pigtailed to the LINE terminals on both devices
We know, from your testing, that the black wire from the /2 cable is the incoming always-hot wire; this means that the black and red wires from the /3 cable are the outgoing switched-hots for the two sets of lights this box controls. Therefore, we wire the box as ...
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Your switch wired in one supply from consumer unit.
You have 3 gang switch which supply with 4 individual wire with twin and earth cable. So the black wires that are
Connected together are neutral and the white wire that are connected/capped are your live wire and the wire connected singly connected to switch are your switch live which coming from the light....
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This looks as if they are switching the neutral wire, which works but is dangerous to anyone who works on any fixtures controlled by those switches. Because you will always have power to the light. Have you checked inside your electrical panel to see how the wires are landed in there? Blacks should be landed in the breakers, white to the neutral bar and ...
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