The easiest and safest way is to use a multimeter to test for current. You connect the black wires in the electrical box to the switch terminals and the white wires to each other.
How To Identify Wiring Diy
Light switch has 2 black and 2 white wires. Scenario a currently uses only 1 of the 2 duplex switches to turn on both light fixtures. Everything ive read online talks about white wires or red or green wires. They should both be of the same wire gauge. My apologies if this has been tackled before but im trying to replace an old light switch in my bathroom and the old one only had two black wires connected to it. Repeat these connections with the two white. Connect the lead wires from the fixture to the black hot wire in the electrical box by twisting a wire connector to the ends of the lead and hot wires.
The old switch had 3 screws on it. Youll have two cables in the switch box a live one with a black and white wire and the one going to the outlet which has a red black and white wire. Its essential that you determine which black wire is hot before proceeding. Black means hot white signifies neutral and green indicates ground. However if you need to rewire a light switch or a plug socket you may occasionally come across two black wires. When i pulled out the existing switch i noticed i have 2 black wires and a white wire connected to the old switch.
2 light brass and 1 dark brass named common. Hooking up a switch is the essence of simplicity. The ground is screwed into the box so i understand that. It doesnt matter if you use top or bottom duplex switch to turn on both the recessed downlight and the hunter lightfan fixture. First the house wiring is very old and there are only 4 wires in the switch box 2 black 2 white no bare ground wire. I tried to figure out the path of power but i wasnt getting the readings i was expecting.
12 awg for 20 amp circuits and 14 awg for 10 and 15 amp circuits. The switch also has a green terminal.