One can not predict what colors will be present and in what manner they are used unless you have wired it. Wheather power comes to the light first or to the switch makes a difference. When romex or non metallic cable is used the choice is black and white or black, white, red for the power wiring. Technically wires should be taped with colored tape or painted in the box where connections are made to stop some of this confusion. Sadly this has not been or likely will not be the case in most installations. If power comes to the switch box first the black will be broken and attached to the switch and the white will be spliced with no connection to the switch. If the power is at the light fixture first a two conductor wire is ran to the switch box Technically or in theory both wires are black and which goes where does not matter in practice many electricians will connect the white to the hot power line and the black from the switch to the black of the light fixture. It will be easier if this can be drawn out or a sample circuit made with a battery and light. The line side is technically black. The wiring becomes load side wiring after it goes through the fixture or appliance/device. In practice with cable having at the most three colors and all three different you have to do some visulation of what the circuit is doing in terms of a complete for the electricity to flow from the circuit breaker through the device and back to the panel box neutral bar. There is more to the circuit out to the transformer, but just look at that part. Kind of similiar to a car or other battery. Drill it into your mind make a complete path and break the wire with a switch on the hot side, which is technically black. Please note this is United States wiring. Sorry folks, I taught this stuff to seventh graders many decades ago and had them wiring three and four way switches without fail. Of course they probably did a hundred drawingings on paper first.. I remember telling them to thing of the wires as being made of rubber and being able to stretch them where ever they were needed , but the circuit had to be completed, then start worrying about color. Ron ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dale Leavens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 11:00 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] wiring a light switch.
> Unless this is knob and tube wiring there will very definitely be a black > and a white wire in the switch box. Occasionally there will also be a red > one if a three way switch and if a four way switch there will be two white > and two black wires and the switch will have 4 terminals on it. Those are > worth about 25 bucks, not that easy to find. I have one such arrangement > here which I installed when I built my addition so that the lights on the > stairs and landings can be switched from bottom and top on the original > side of the house and outside each of the two bedroom doors on the landing > on the new side. Took me about a week to understand how it is done before > I could wire it. > > Reversing the wiring on a switch will not reverse which way it works. > revolving the switch upside down so that the terminals go into the box on > the left will. Most switches these days, maybe all I don't know have a dot > which appears under the toggle when the switch is on or even the word "ON" > and "OFF" which appear below and above the toggle depending on it's > position. > > When I was a kid we even had a bathroom switch which lit when in the off > position. The purpose was to assist someone finding it in the night I > believe. I don't know how it worked or why it should be made to go off > when the light was on. > > Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Skype DaleLeavens > Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bob Kennedy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 11:27 PM > Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] wiring a light switch. > > >> Only the black wire gets attached in a light switch. If you are running >> new >> wire, only cut the black one. If you are replacing a switch just undo >> the >> screws and put the wires back in the same place. The worst that can >> happen >> is the switch will work upside down. >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Peawee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: "BH" <[email protected]> >> Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 5:17 PM >> Subject: [BlindHandyMan] wiring a light switch. >> >> >>> Hi, is their any electrician out their that can help me on a basic >>> wiring >>> of a light switch? My step son is trying to replace a switch in his >>> house. >>> I >>> just need some refresher of basic switch wiring. Its been a long time >>> since >>> I have done anything like this. >>> >>> thanks, >>> Peawee >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> >>> No virus found in this outgoing message. >>> Checked by AVG Free Edition. >>> Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.0/1218 - Release Date: >>> 1/10/2008 >>> 1:32 PM >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> To listen to the show archives go to link >>> http://acbradio.org/handyman.html >>> or >>> ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ >>> >>> The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. >>> http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday >>> >>> Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From >>> Various >>> List Members At The Following address: >>> http://www.jaws-users.com/JAWS/handyman/ >>> >>> Visit the archives page at the following address >>> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >>> >>> If you would like to join the JAWS Users List, then visit the following >>> address for more information: >>> http://www.jaws-users.com/ >>> For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man >>> list just send a blank message to: >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> Yahoo! Groups Links >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> >> >> To listen to the show archives go to link >> http://acbradio.org/handyman.html >> or >> ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ >> >> The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. >> http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday >> >> Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various >> List Members At The Following address: >> http://www.jaws-users.com/JAWS/handyman/ >> >> Visit the archives page at the following address >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> >> If you would like to join the JAWS Users List, then visit the following >> address for more information: >> http://www.jaws-users.com/ >> For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man >> list just send a blank message to: >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Yahoo! Groups Links >> >> >> >> > > > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html > or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various > List Members At The Following address: > http://www.jaws-users.com/JAWS/handyman/ > > Visit the archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > If you would like to join the JAWS Users List, then visit the following > address for more information: > http://www.jaws-users.com/ > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man > list just send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following address: http://www.jaws-users.com/JAWS/handyman/ Visit the archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ If you would like to join the JAWS Users List, then visit the following address for more information: http://www.jaws-users.com/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! 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