How To Install A Two Way Dimmer Switch
How to Install a Dimmer Switch
How to Install a Dimmer Light Switch
Time
A full day
Complication
Intermediate
Cost
Less than $twenty
Introduction
There's more to changing a switch than connecting a few wires. Yous have to cheque grounding and box size for a safe, starting time-grade task. It'southward like shooting fish in a barrel to install a dimmer switch, merely make sure to upgrade the wiring if necessary to make it safer and meet Electrical Lawmaking requirements. Nosotros'll show you how to assure a rubber installation.
Tools Required
Materials Required
- Dimmer switch
- Wire connectors
Getting Started: Tools and Power
Information technology doesn't have long to supercede an ordinary light switch with full-characteristic dimmable switches. Simply while you lot're at it, to brand your home safer, you should upgrade the wiring to see the latest requirements of the National Electrical Code. Our step-past-pace instructions volition evidence y'all how to install the dimming switch, concentrating on details that will guarantee a safety installation.
The tools you'll need to install a toggle dimmer switch are inexpensive and volition come in handy for all your electrical projects. You'll need a screwdriver, wire stripper, inexpensive (2 lead wire type) voltage tester and needle-nose pliers to install a dimmer.
Wiring problems and mistakes are all too mutual, and if left uncorrected have the potential to cause brusque circuits, shocks and even fires. Here are the height 10 electrical mistakes people brand and how to fix what you discover.
Project step-past-pace (12)
Step one
Choosing a Dimmer
There are several types of dimmer switches out at that place. We show the single switch simply at that place are also three-way dimmers, CFL and LED dimmer switches.
Step ii
Check for Hot Wires
To brainstorm, plow off the power and double-check for hot wires in the box. Turn on the light and have a helper watch as you lot switch off the excursion breakers, or unscrew the fuses one at a fourth dimension until the light goes out. Leave this circuit turned off while yous work.
We're using a non-contact voltage detector to double-check for voltage before removing the dimming switch. Nosotros adopt this type of tester considering information technology'll detect voltage without direct contact with the metal conductor. That's huge—it ways you can bank check potentially hot wires before yous handle them.
Hold the tip of a non-contact voltage detector nearly each spiral terminal to exist sure the power is off. After you unscrew the switch and pull it away from the box, probe around inside the box with the detector to make sure in that location are no other hot wires from another excursion.
Plus, acquire how to troubleshoot a dead outlet hither.
Phone call an electrician if the original switch is connected to two white wires. This may indicate a unsafe switched neutral. Also, if you have aluminum wiring, don't mess with it! Call in a licensed pro who is certified to work with it. This wiring is boring gray, non the irksome orange that's characteristic of copper.
Step three
Common Metal Box Sizes
Too many wires and devices stuffed into a box can cause dangerous overheating, short-circuiting and fires. The National Electric Code specifies minimum box sizes to reduce this risk.
To effigy the minimum box size required by the electrical lawmaking, add together 1 for each hot and neutral wire entering the box, 1 for all the ground wires combined, one for all the clamps combined, and 2 for each device (switch or receptacle) installed in the box. Multiply this figure past 2 for 14-gauge wire and 2.25 for a 12-gauge wire to go the minimum box volume in cubic inches.
To help make up one's mind the approximate of the wire in your switch box, look at the amperage of the circuit breaker or fuse in the main electrical panel. Fifteen-amp circuits are unremarkably wired with 14-estimate wire and xx-amp circuits require 12-gauge or heavier wire.
Compare the effigy yous get with the volume of your existing box. Plastic boxes have the book stamped inside, usually on the back. Steel box capacities are listed in the electrical code. We've listed the volume of the near common steel boxes in the chart above.
Pace 4
Brand Sure the Box is Large Enough
If you have a steel box, measure out the pinnacle, width and depth of information technology to determine the box volume and consult the chart to run across if it's large plenty. Plastic boxes have their volume stamped within. If your box is also small, supersede it with a larger one. It's possible to supersede a box without cut away the wall, but it'due south a tricky job. We recommend just removing almost a 16-in. square of drywall or plaster and patching it later the new large box is installed.
Tip: If the circuit breaker is labeled "15 amp, " the wires are probably fourteen-gauge, or 12-estimate for 20-amp circuit breakers.
Footstep 5
Exam Your Ground Before You Connect It
New dimmers take either a greenish grounding wire or a green ground screw that you'll have to connect to a grounding source if one is available. Houses wired with plastic-sheathed cable nearly always have bare copper ground wires that you'll connect to the toggle dimmer switch. Just test first using a neon voltage tester to verify that the wire is connected to a ground.
Some wiring systems, like ours, rely on a metal conduit for the ground. If you have one of these systems, test the metallic box with a neon voltage tester to verify that it's grounded. If information technology is, attach a brusk ground wire to the metal box with either a metal grounding clip or a light-green grounding screw screwed into the threaded hole in the dorsum of the box. Then connect it to the dimmer.
If testing reveals your box isn't grounded, you can nevertheless install the dimmer, only you must use a plastic cover plate and make sure no bare metal parts are exposed. Examination information technology once more for a ground. Plough the ability back on. Then place the leads of a voltage tester between each screw concluding and the metallic box. If the tester lights, the box is grounded.
Plough off the power over again before proceeding.
Step 6
Install the New Dimmer and a Grounding Clip
The steps are basically the aforementioned for how to install a switch. Press a grounding clip and 6-in. length of bare copper wire onto the metal box with a screwdriver. Cut away a little bit of drywall nether the box to provide clearance for the clip.
Pace 7
Pinch the Wire End
Bend the ground wire dorsum onto the prune and squeeze it downwards tight so it won't interfere with the dimmer switch.
Footstep 8
Strip New Wire Ends
Clip off the bent end of each wire with the wire cutter. Strip iii/8 in. of insulation from the cease of the wires.
Learn how to properly prep wire.
Footstep 9
Connect the Wires
Some dimmers, like the one nosotros're installing, have stranded wires attached. Hold the wires together with the stranded wire protruding about 1/8 in. beyond the solid wire. Match the size of the wire connector you're using to the size and number of wires being connected. Check the manufacturer's specifications on the package to be sure. Twist a plastic wire connector clockwise onto the wires to connect them. Stop twisting when the connector is snug.
Other dimmers take screw terminals instead of the attached stranded wires to the new dimmer. For the dimmers with screw terminals, strip 3/4 in. of the insulated covering from the wires in the box and curve a loop in each with needle-olfactory organ pliers. Place the loop clockwise effectually the screw terminals and shut the loop around the screws with the needle nose pliers. Then tighten the screws.
Step ten
Adhere Embrace Plate for the Wall Dimmer Switch
Fold the wires neatly into the box. Spiral the dimmer to the box with the screws provided. Finish the job by installing the cover plate and turning on the power to test the new dimmer.
It doesn't matter if you reverse the two switch wires to a single-pole dimmer. But if you're replacing a three-way switch with a three-style dimmer, label the "common" wire (information technology'll be labeled on the onetime switch) when yous remove the old switch and then yous can connect it to the "common" final on the dimmer.
Plus, learn how to change a single-pole switch to a 3-way switch.
In well-nigh cases, the two switch wires will be some colour other than green or white, usually black. But one of the wires may be white if your house is wired with plastic-sheathed cable. Put a wrap of black tape around the white conductor to label it as a hot wire.
Step 11
Ownership Dimmers
If the switch you're replacing is the but switch controlling the lite, buy a standard single-pole dimmer. If the light can be switched on and off from 2 or more than switches, buy a iii-style dimmer switch. Just you won't be able to dim the lights from every switch location unless y'all buy a set of special dimmers with advanced electronics and install one at each switch location.
Step 12
Watts
Almost dimmers are designed to handle 600 watts. Add together up the wattage of all the calorie-free bulbs yous'll exist dimming. Then read the dimmer package to make certain it can handle the load. Heavy-duty ane,000- and 1,500-watt dimmers are too readily available. Read the package if you lot'll be installing dimmers adjacent in the same electrical box considering the wattage rating is reduced to compensate for actress estrus buildup.
Finally, you lot take to utilize a special device, not a dimmer, to control the speed of ceiling fans and motors. Most fluorescent lights can't be dimmed without altering the fixture.
Whether you're looking to add together a lite fixture or run rough electric for an addition, here are 10 key facts that your electrician wishes y'all knew.
Originally Published: November 26, 2022
Source: https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/how-to-install-a-dimmer-switch/
Posted by: mooresagand.blogspot.com
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