How To Install Wireless Courtesy Door Light
How to Install a Dimmer Switch
How to Install a Dimmer Light Switch
Time
A total day
Complexity
Intermediate
Cost
Less than $xx
Introduction
In that location'south more to changing a switch than connecting a few wires. You have to check grounding and box size for a safe, offset-class job. It's easy to install a dimmer switch, simply make certain to upgrade the wiring if necessary to make it safer and meet Electric Code requirements. We'll testify y'all how to assure a safe installation.
Tools Required
Materials Required
- Dimmer switch
- Wire connectors
Getting Started: Tools and Power
It doesn't take long to supplant an ordinary low-cal switch with full-characteristic dimmable switches. Just while you're at it, to make your home safer, you lot should upgrade the wiring to meet the latest requirements of the National Electric Code. Our step-past-step instructions will show y'all how to install the dimming switch, concentrating on details that will guarantee a prophylactic installation.
The tools yous'll need to install a toggle dimmer switch are inexpensive and will come up in handy for all your electrical projects. Yous'll need a screwdriver, wire stripper, inexpensive (ii lead wire blazon) voltage tester and needle-nose pliers to install a dimmer.
Wiring problems and mistakes are all also common, and if left uncorrected take the potential to cause short circuits, shocks and even fires. Hither are the top 10 electrical mistakes people make and how to fix what y'all detect.
Project step-by-footstep (12)
Step 1
Choosing a Dimmer
In that location are several types of dimmer switches out there. We evidence the single switch but in that location are also three-way dimmers, CFL and LED dimmer switches.
Footstep ii
Check for Hot Wires
To brainstorm, plough off the ability and double-cheque for hot wires in the box. Turn on the light and take a helper picket every bit you switch off the excursion breakers, or unscrew the fuses one at a time until the light goes out. Go out this circuit turned off while you piece of 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 because information technology'll detect voltage without directly contact with the metal conductor. That'southward huge—it ways you lot tin can check potentially hot wires earlier yous handle them.
Hold the tip of a not-contact voltage detector near each screw terminal to exist sure the power is off. After you lot unscrew the switch and pull it away from the box, probe around inside the box with the detector to make sure there are no other hot wires from another circuit.
Plus, learn how to troubleshoot a dead outlet hither.
Phone call an electrician if the original switch is connected to two white wires. This may signal a dangerous switched neutral. Also, if y'all accept aluminum wiring, don't mess with it! Call in a licensed pro who is certified to work with it. This wiring is tiresome grayness, not the irksome orange that's characteristic of copper.
Step iii
Mutual Metal Box Sizes
Too many wires and devices blimp into a box tin can cause unsafe overheating, brusk-circuiting and fires. The National Electric Lawmaking specifies minimum box sizes to reduce this risk.
To figure the minimum box size required past the electric code, add i for each hot and neutral wire entering the box, 1 for all the ground wires combined, 1 for all the clamps combined, and 2 for each device (switch or receptacle) installed in the box. Multiply this effigy by 2 for 14-judge wire and 2.25 for a 12-guess wire to get the minimum box volume in cubic inches.
To help determine the gauge of the wire in your switch box, look at the amperage of the circuit billow or fuse in the primary electrical panel. 15-amp circuits are usually wired with 14-gauge wire and xx-amp circuits require 12-judge or heavier wire.
Compare the figure you get with the book of your existing box. Plastic boxes have the book stamped inside, usually on the dorsum. Steel box capacities are listed in the electrical lawmaking. Nosotros've listed the volume of the most common steel boxes in the nautical chart in a higher place.
Footstep 4
Make Certain the Box is Large Enough
If you have a steel box, measure out the height, width and depth of it to determine the box volume and consult the nautical chart to see if it's big enough. Plastic boxes have their volume stamped inside. If your box is also small, replace it with a larger ane. It's possible to replace a box without cut abroad the wall, but it's a tricky task. We recommend just removing nearly a xvi-in. foursquare of drywall or plaster and patching it after the new big box is installed.
Tip: If the excursion breaker is labeled "15 amp, " the wires are probably 14-gauge, or 12-guess for 20-amp circuit breakers.
Step 5
Test Your Ground Before You Connect It
New dimmers have either a green grounding wire or a greenish footing screw that you'll have to connect to a grounding source if 1 is bachelor. Houses wired with plastic-sheathed cable most always have bare copper ground wires that you lot'll connect to the toggle dimmer switch. But test showtime using a neon voltage tester to verify that the wire is connected to a ground.
Some wiring systems, similar ours, rely on a metal conduit for the ground. If y'all have one of these systems, examination the metal box with a neon voltage tester to verify that information technology'due south grounded. If it is, attach a short basis wire to the metal box with either a metal grounding clip or a green grounding screw screwed into the threaded hole in the back of the box. Then connect it to the dimmer.
If testing reveals your box isn't grounded, you tin can still install the dimmer, but y'all must use a plastic cover plate and make sure no blank metal parts are exposed. Test it again for a basis. Plow the power back on. Then identify the leads of a voltage tester between each spiral terminal and the metal box. If the tester lights, the box is grounded.
Plough off the power again earlier proceeding.
Stride 6
Install the New Dimmer and a Grounding Clip
The steps are basically the same for how to install a switch. Printing a grounding clip and half-dozen-in. length of blank copper wire onto the metal box with a screwdriver. Cut away a petty bit of drywall nether the box to provide clearance for the clip.
Step vii
Pinch the Wire Finish
Bend the ground wire back onto the clip and squeeze it down tight and so it won't interfere with the dimmer switch.
Step eight
Strip New Wire Ends
Clip off the aptitude end of each wire with the wire cutter. Strip 3/8 in. of insulation from the end of the wires.
Learn how to properly prep wire.
Stride nine
Connect the Wires
Some dimmers, like the one nosotros're installing, have stranded wires attached. Agree the wires together with the stranded wire protruding near one/8 in. across the solid wire. Match the size of the wire connector you're using to the size and number of wires beingness connected. Check the manufacturer'south 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 have screw terminals instead of the fastened 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 bend a loop in each with needle-nose pliers. Place the loop clockwise around the spiral terminals and close the loop around the screws with the needle nose pliers. And then tighten the screws.
Stride 10
Attach Encompass 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 comprehend plate and turning on the power to test the new dimmer.
It doesn't affair if you reverse the two switch wires to a single-pole dimmer. But if you're replacing a three-way switch with a iii-way dimmer, label the "common" wire (it'll be labeled on the erstwhile switch) when you remove the old switch and then yous can connect information technology to the "common" terminal on the dimmer.
Plus, learn how to change a unmarried-pole switch to a iii-way switch.
In almost cases, the 2 switch wires volition be some colour other than green or white, normally black. But one of the wires may be white if your firm is wired with plastic-sheathed cable. Put a wrap of black tape around the white conductor to label information technology as a hot wire.
Step 11
Buying Dimmers
If the switch you're replacing is the only switch decision-making the light, buy a standard single-pole dimmer. If the lite tin can be switched on and off from two or more switches, buy a three-way dimmer switch. But you won't be able to dim the lights from every switch location unless you purchase a set of special dimmers with advanced electronics and install one at each switch location.
Stride 12
Watts
Nigh dimmers are designed to handle 600 watts. Add up the wattage of all the calorie-free bulbs you'll be dimming. Then read the dimmer package to brand sure information technology can handle the load. Heavy-duty one,000- and 1,500-watt dimmers are too readily bachelor. Read the package if y'all'll be installing dimmers adjacent in the same electrical box because the wattage rating is reduced to compensate for actress heat buildup.
Finally, you accept to use a special device, non 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 a light fixture or run rough electric for an addition, here are 10 cardinal facts that your electrician wishes you knew.
Originally Published: November 26, 2022
Source: https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/how-to-install-a-dimmer-switch/
Posted by: herrickheamose1976.blogspot.com
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