Light Switch Wiring Help

[Fastoyz]

[QUOTE=Jimmycrackcorn;3748232]It looks to me the black wire next to the red wire is the power wire. The power wire feeds both switches. The red wire goes to the light. The wire that goes out the bottom of the box goes to the other light. Hope this helps.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil
Jimmycrackcorn is exactly right. Black wire that is with the red & white is a constant hot which is why it jumpers from one switch to another in order to power up both switches. The other wires coming off each switch is the switch leg going to each light respectively.
Chad
Electrician

[OKcherokee]

Be sure to lick your fingers before touching any bare wires.....

[wisekise]

Originally Posted by bijou

+1

120V won't kill you, but it can ruin your day (and your house)

This is not true.
120v can kill you, it just depends on the load (amps) of the circuit and how it travels through your body. It only takes .5amps @120volts accross your heart to kill you.
Typically a shock from a household circuit does nothing more than scare and piss a person off but it definitely has potential to kill depending on various circumstances.

[sprigfan]

jimmycrackcorn and fastoyz, thank you very much!

[wisekise]

Typically the 2 red wires on the dimmer are the "travelers" , just cap one of the red wires and use the black and the remaining red wire to control the light, any 3way switch can be used as a single pole switch by not using one of the traveler connections, btw on a 3way switch with screws the dark colored screw is used for incoming power or outgoing (switch-leg) power.
Good luck, and be sure to turn the circuit off prior to working on it.

[John A.]

What happens if your house is wired so that the hot goes to the lights themselves and the switches are there to break the ground/nuetral circuit?

I've seen it done numerous times. Especially in older houses because it takes less wire that way.

Just looking at the color of a wire, does not mean that the person who did it knew what they were doing in the first place, nor that the wiring is correctly done. That what volt/ohm meters are for.

This is coming from someone who got their electrical certifications close to twenty years ago.

This thread could have disaster all over it.

PS. to add

wisekise is correct. It takes very little power to actually kill you if it hits you the right way.

Like a bolt of lightning, a simple little 1.5v AA battery can kill you just as quickly in the right circumstances. How do you think those little wonder devices called pacemakers and defribrilators work?

Ever see scars on someone welding that inadvertently got grounded while that DC was flowing? It's relatively low voltage, yet high current

[Andy_PHA]

The red with white stripe will the the traveler that you will want to cap off. The red will be the switch leg to the fixture the black is the power and the green is ground. With newer dimmers of that style look for a gap switch as the newer style with microprocessors can still pass enough current to the switchleg even with the switch "off", to give you a bit of a shock. It may not have one, but you should know if it does because you can be shocked even changing a light bulb if it has it and you don't have it pulled.

[Jimmycrackcorn]

I've really only seen this with knob and tube wiring. Its not a good wiring practice. I don't care for it myself. It is hell troubleshooting a damaged circuit.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

[wisekise]

I absolutely despise troubleshooting knob and tube wiring and that's how they wired switches back then, by breaking the hot conductor. Also hate the splices made with knob n tube wiring because nobody had thought of the great idea of junction boxes, all splices were made within walls or ceilings. Some "experienced" electricians still do this (switching of the hot wire) but thank God is a dying practice.

[db_xd]

"dying practice" is that a pun?