Why do I have 5 wires on my light switch?

It’s a 3-way switch



The other two wires (the brass screws) are travelers. When you throw the switch, it alternates which one is connected.

How do you wire a 5 wire switch?





Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: This power wire will go back to what you want to turn on and then your two grounds go to the top. And there we are that's how we wire up a five pull switch. So you've got a little blue light. Behind.

How do you wire a single pole switch with 5 wires?

Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: We have the the red on the left black on the right. This one is the opposite black on the right or red on the right black on the left and again the common is the hot wire and that goes to the lights.

How many wires can be in a light switch?

Three wires will be attached to your switch: a hot (black) wire, a neutral (white) wire and a ground (copper) wire. The black and white wires are attached using brass screws.

Why do I have 2 black wires and 2 white wires?

So, why are there two black and two white wires in your outlet box? There are two black and two white wires in an outlet box because the outlet is in the middle of a series circuit, accepting power from another source and sending it on. Two cables are hot wires, bringing the power in and carrying it onward to the next.

What happens if a light switch doesn’t have a neutral wire?





The neutral wire allows the completion of the circuit and the switch to have power even when it’s turned to the off position when you want the lights off. Without this neutral wire in place, the circuit is broken any time the switch is now in the off position. It remains has power when the switch is in the On Mode.

What happens if you wire a light switch wrong?

But here’s the catch: If you connect the circuit wires to the wrong terminals on an outlet, the outlet will still work but the polarity will be backward. When this happens, a lamp, for example, will have its bulb socket sleeve energized rather than the little tab inside the socket.

Can red and black wires go 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.

Does it matter what wire goes where on a light switch?

It doesn’t matter as long as you do it the same on both switches. So, if you connect it to the upper right terminal on one switch, connect it to the upper right terminal on the other switch. Connect the second traveler wire to the terminal opposite the red wire terminal.

Which is the hot wire on a switch?



black wire

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.

How do you know which wire is hot on a light switch?

Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: So go ahead and touch. Your black probe to ground. And put your red onto the hot. And so there you can see 120 volts.

When wiring a light switch what Colour is the live wire?



The brown wire is Live (also know as permanent live), this brings the live supply to the switch. The blue wire is known as the Switched Live and takes power to the light.

Which color wires go together?

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

Which wire is hot when both are same color?

In most modern fixtures the neutral wire will be white and the hot wire is red or black. In some types of fixtures, both wires will be the same color. In this case, the neutral wire is always identified by some means. In some cases, there will be small writing on the wiring case.