Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

chookityyyypok t1_j1e1vlm wrote

Yea you'll need to get a little piece of 14 ga wire to pigtail off the twisted black wires. Final product should look like this.

27

created4this t1_j1f00xo wrote

Like that in layout, not like that in colours.

If you wire the switch like that it will go bang

−8

boxsterguy t1_j1f8diz wrote

Looks like a shittily wired box. Either there's a line and neutral with no load (in which case, you would wire a receptacle there, not a switch), or it's an old school no-neutral lights-only loop and they used white for load. Both are wrong, but given they're wiring a switch one would have to assume it's the latter and would still work even with the colors being wrong.

Switching line and neutral would be pretty stupid.

1

yeah_its_mike t1_j1fg71i wrote

Yerp. Sometimes still done today. It's not up to code as we need a neutral in the switch box.(Now) Black feed white switch loop. Neutral already existing at the light connected to another point in the same circuit (hopefully).

Edit: You can't always go off color of wires. I wire 3 and 4 way switches using white wire.(14-3 with ground) I identify with tape. Some electricians don't.

4

boxsterguy t1_j1fi8z0 wrote

Worst case scenario, voltage detectors (or your fingers) don't lie. Turn on the power, check the wires, see what's energized when the switch is off.

1

yeah_its_mike t1_j1fj6xu wrote

Meter, fingers, apprentice, metal grounded box whatever is closest. If it's early AM fingers is the best for a wakeup.

3

created4this t1_j1fcv8m wrote

The wiring is line in/line out which is the two twisted lives (black) as well as a switched live out (black alone).

The whites are the neutrals.

Wiring a switch to bridge between live and neutral (as it would be if they copied the pictures) is a problem

−2

boxsterguy t1_j1fe3ab wrote

I was referring to the linked article, not OP's picture. As I assumed you were doing, too, when you said, "Not those colors".

1

[deleted] t1_j1ft3ov wrote

[deleted]

0

created4this t1_j1hdbbb wrote

You can tell how it’s wired by the fact the original dimmer was between two blacks.

I’m not saying to assume that white is neutral for the purpose of fitting a smart switch here, I’m saying assume white is neutral so you don’t wire a switch to short it to live. The new switch needs to be wired like the old dimmer, not like the picture in the link at the start of this sub thread.

0