Here’s a look at installing a dimmer switch, whether a single-pole switch or a 3-way switch. If it does have one, and there’s a ground wire in the circuit, then connect them up. The issue here is ensuring you’ve connected the correct terminals – more on that when I explain some standard troubleshooting solutions below.ģ-way dimmers will still have the ground wire as the fourth wire.įor both types of dimmer, this will be bare copper, or it will be green, or green with a yellow stripe. You can cap it off for safety using a wire nut. Note that if you’ve bought a 3-way dimmer switch but don’t intend to use it alongside another light switch, you don’t have to connect that second traveler wire. The common wire/terminal is what you connect to the power source, while the traveler wires are what you connect to the ongoing circuit to hook up to the light and another switch. There are three live wires, one from the ‘common’ terminal and two from the traveler terminals. The wires on a 3-way dimmer switch aren’t that different – what matters is how you connect them up. There will be two live wires – one to connect to the black incoming power source and one to connect to the wire leading to the load, aka the lights. There are two types – a single-pole dimmer that works as the only switch controlling a set of lights, or a 3-way dimmer (called a 2-way in the UK and Europe) designed to be wired into a circuit alongside another switch.Ī modern single-pole dimmer will usually have three wires. The number of wires a dimmer switch will have to connect depends on the type of dimmer. How Many Wires Do Dimmer Switches Have To Connect? Where you can add a dimmer switch to recessed lights.How to troubleshoot dimmer switch problems.In a 3-way circuit, the two load wires will ultimately connect to the second switch. Wiring a dimmer switch is as simple as connecting the live black wire to the live wire in the wall and the red load wires to the load. You install them into the circuit so that the hot wire comes into the switch, and then the wire carries on from the switch to the rest of the circuit, completing the loop.Īnd more importantly, how do you install dimmers? Is there anything specific you need to be aware of? Most light switches are designed to be connected with two wires.
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