Never work on a light switch with the power on. Sheathed cable with a red.
Light Switch With 2 Black Wires And One Red Home
Black and red wires light switch. If you change a light fixture and find a red wire in the electrical box chances are the black wire from the fixture needs to go to the red wire in the box. More about wiring a light fixture. Some sheathed cable includes a fourth red wire which makes it useful for wiring fixtures with three way switches or a ceiling fan with separate light and fan switches. Turn off the power at the breaker or fuse box. The ground wire also connects to the switch but the white wire gets spliced to the circuit neutral wire and bypasses the switch. First twist the two bare copper ground wires together.
But first lets get my disclaimer out of the way. It could be there is or once was a three way switch in play. Wiring a dimmer switch 3 way dimmer switch wiring diagram fully explained 3 way dimmer switch wiring diagram will take the. Normally youll see a red wire in places you would expect a ceiling fan. At the light fixture there is one bundle of wires coming from switch one and one bundle coming from switch two. Twist the two white wires together and attach a wire nut.
Twist the two red wires together and attach a wire nut. The standard way to power a split tab outlet is to run a three conductor cable to a wall switch. Well cover the easier scenario first. Attach the black wire coming from the light to the top right nut on the switch. The cable has a black wire which connects directly to the circuit and a red wire which connects to the switch. Or it could be the red wire is the wire going to the fixture and the black wires are the live wires.
Attach the red wire coming from the light to the top left nut on the switch. The red wire as a spare wire when a ceiling fan is not installed this spare red wire is insulated with electrical tape or capped off with a wire nut.