Why do I have three wires in my light fixture?

The simple explanation is that a 2-wire system does not include a Neutral wire at the light switch, the 3-wire system does include the Neutral at the switch.

How do you wire a 3-wire light fixture?





Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: From this switch going to the first light is going to be 14. 3 so up at this end we've got a red and a black and they're both hooked to V so to the gold screws.

What do you do with extra wires in a light fixture?

Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: For this job you will need some wire nuts and electrical tape so here's a standard electrical box this sits in between two studs.

Why does my ceiling light have 3 white wires?

The black wire is the hot wire, the white wires are neutral and ground is ground. You need to connect the black wire of your light fixture to the black ceiling wire, the white wire fixture to the 3 white wires, and the ground wire to the ground wire.

Why does my ceiling light have 4 wires?

In order for the light to be controlled by its own switch, the wiring between the switch and the fan unit needs a fourth wire, a red wire, to carry power to the light kit.

Which color wires go together?





See Table below. The protective ground is green or green with yellow stripe. The neutral is white, the hot (live or active) single phase wires are black , and red in the case of a second active.
US AC power circuit wiring color codes.

Function Line, 3-phase
label L3
Color, common blue
Color, alternative yellow

What happens if you wire 3 way switch wrong?

If you don’t correctly connect this wire, then your lights won’t work from more than one switch. Grounding the switch: You’ll also need to locate the ground wire and connect it to the switch too.

Can I connect red and black wires together?

These wires are typically used for switch wiring as well as the interconnection between smoke detectors hard-wired into the power system. You can link two red wires together, or you can link a red wire to a black wire. Since red wires conduct current, they are considered hot.

How do you wire a single pole switch with 3 wires?

Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: Source hot wire connected to the neutral wire of the light switch. That we labeled with a black electrical tape to make sure that that is now hot.

How do you wire a light fixture with two sets of wires?



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. Repeat these connections with the two white neutral wires from the light fixture and the white neutral wire in the light fixture box.

How do you change a 3 wire light switch?

Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: You're gonna take a 110 test meter what you're into is test the three wires this huge power wire has power all the time and that'll be your common wire which will go into your common screw.

What does N and L mean on a light fixture?

The terminal L must be connected to the unearthed conductive part of AC main supply and the terminal N must be connected to the earthed conductive part of AC main supply, to apply the safety agency approval. This purpose is protection by a blowout fuse from electric shock by earth fault.

What happens if you mix up hot and neutral wires?



This happens when the hot and neutral wires get flipped around at an outlet, or upstream from an outlet. Reversed polarity creates a potential shock hazard, but it’s usually an easy repair. Any $5 electrical tester will alert you to this condition, assuming you have a properly grounded three-prong outlet.

What happens if you wire a light fixture backwards?

The fixture still works if you reverse the wires, but the socket sleeve will be hot, and anyone who touches it while changing a bulb can get a shock. When wired correctly, the socket sleeve is neutral and only the small metal tab at the base of the socket is hot.

Which wire is L and which wire is n?

US AC power circuit wiring color codes

Function label Color, common
Neutral N white
Line, single phase L black or red (2nd hot)
Line, 3-phase L1 black
Line, 3-phase L2 red

Which wire is hot if both are black?

Here’s a rundown of electrical wires: The black wire is the “hot” wire, it carries the electricity from the breaker panel into the switch or light source. The white wire is the “neutral” wire, it takes any unused electricity and current and sends it back to the breaker panel.

What does an N on a wire stand for?



The N and L are for neutral and load. You should have three wires in your AC line. Load, ground, and neutral. The black wire is Load or Hot, the white wire is neutral, and the green wire is Ground if your wires are colorcoded for the US.