Does My Light Switch Have A Neutral Wire - troutfishingcr

Ive had a look inside my switches and they only have three wires. It remains has power when the switch is in the On Mode.

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I want to replace some of my light switches with modern ones which can be used as part of home automation systems.

Does my light switch have a neutral wire. If there is an outlet near the light switch in question its likely that switch has a neutral wire. Light switches ganged together like two or three right next to each other are likely to have a neutral regardless of the year your house was built. If there is a Neutral Wire present in the light switch already then it is simply a case of swapping them over.

It is usually a white wire. Flipping the switch interrupts the flow of electricity to the light turning it off and on. The white or neutral wire bypasses the switch and goes straight to your lights.

If there is not then you need to do extra work to get a neutral wire in there which stops a lot of people from doing it at all. To install your neutral wire in your switch youll need to remove the wall plate by removing the screws that hold it in place. Without this neutral wire in place the circuit is broken any time the switch is now in the off position.

This is usually only attached if your old switch is a smart switch or certain dimmer switches. If you take a look at figure 1 youll see that the light switch only has two wires - Live which is the permanent live to the switch and Switched Live that takes the Live supply to the light bulb. Is that your question.

For those of us using LED Fluorescent or some other energy efficient bulbs under 20w a neutral is REQUIRED. Then pull the switch out of the electrical box. The hot black wire from the power source travels through the switch and from there to the light.

This video will help you identify if a neutral connection is available in a light switch. Live ground and the other one. You will find 3 wires a black hot a copper bare and a white which is your neutral wire.

However you will be glad to know that there are few smart switches I have reviewed below that dont demand a neutral wire connection attached and can work without it. This video will help you identify if a neutral connection is available in a light switch location. The presence of a neutral wire would most likely be the return from the lighting-receptacle being controlled by the switch.

Joehas just come across an existing light switc. For the vast majority of the smart light switches they do need a neutral wire as the pre-requisite to function. When we talk about a 2-wire lighting system we mean that it doesnt have a neutral available at the switch See APNT-23 for more information.

If its not attached to your old switch look for a cluster of white wires bundled together in the back of your wall box. It is usually a white wire. Yes there are a few read very very very few switches that dont require a neutral but those will limit you to incandescent only.

The most common requirement of any hardwired automated light switch is a neutral wire. This wire is needed to complete the circuit. 15 March 2018 at 958AM hd216 Forumite.

At the second switch box location the wiring is similar to the first switch with the traveler terminals connected to the traveler wires coming from the first switch. If you see a white wire or group of them it is VERY likely that you have a neutral in that switch box The only way to be absolutely sure that you have found a neutral wire is to check the voltage 110V120V between the white wire and the hot usually black in color wire in the box. Because switches do not have white neutral wire connections the neutral wires at the switch boxes are simply joined together so they pass through onward to the light fixture box.

If power comes into the switch box first the neutral white line from the service panel and the white line that leads to the light are spliced together. Almost all of these require that the light switch has a neutral wire. The neutral wire allows the completion of the circuit and the switch to have power even when its turned to the off position when you want the lights off.

The switch serves to cut the power from reaching the light switch. Switches dont have a neutral wire because ONLY the supply-side of electrical devices are meant to be switched to disallow leaving HOT ungrounded devices becoming shock-hazards. The ground wire sometimes in a green jacket should be connected to your switch and to your lights.

You can also have an electrician rewire the switch and light fixture which is potentially more expensive. Option 1 - Run a Neutral Wire If you want to use smart switches and dont have a neutral wire in your switch box you can hire an electrician to run a neutral wire between the light fixture and the switch.

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