the answer is no, the switch is connected to the supply to the light so as to switch on and off the supply. The neutral wire in the circuit is looped through all the lights in the house and should never be in a switched circuit.

What happens if neutral and hot are switched?

One common issue with electrical outlets is reverse polarity, also known as “hot-neutral reversed.” In this condition, the outlet has been wired incorrectly, altering the flow of electricity. While the outlet will still be able to provide power to your electrical items, it is also present a greater shock hazard.

Can a switched outlet share a neutral?

With the tab removed, you must connect a different hot wire to each of the hot terminals in order to supply power to both halves of the receptacle. Because the neutral tab remains intact, you can connect a single neutral wire to either neutral terminal so that the two outlets share a neutral.

What happens if you switch hot and neutral wires lamp?

For legacy lighting working with high current, switching the neutral instead of the hot wire has no practical impact, except the safety aspect mentioned: Someone can touch the hot wire in spite the switch is open.

Can a neutral wire be run separately?

Further, you cannot run just a separate neutral wire even if it was the right size. That’s in NEC 300.3 — all related wires must be in the same cable. There’s a very good reason for that — electric wires kick massive EMFs, and as long as the wires are together, those EMFs will cancel each other out.

Can 2 hot wires share a neutral?

What is a multiwire branch circuit? A multiwire branch circuit is a branch circuit with a shared neutral. This means there are two or more ungrounded (hot) phase or system conductors with a voltage between them and a shared neutral.

Can multiple switches use the same neutral wire?

If both switches are powered by the same breaker you can wire both to the same neutral.

Can neutral and ground be on the same bus bar?

The answer is never. Grounds and neutrals should only be connected at the last point of disconnect. This would be at main panels only.

Why does the neutral and ground have to be separated at the panel?

With ground and neutral bonded, current can travel on both ground and neutral back to the main panel. If the load becomes unbalanced and ground and neutral are bonded, the current will flow through anything bonded to the sub-panel (enclosure, ground wire, piping, etc.) and back to the main panel. Obvious shock hazard!

Can you tie neutral and ground together?

No, the neutral and ground should never be wired together. This is wrong, and potentially dangerous. When you plug in something in the outlet, the neutral will be live, as it closes the circuit. If the ground is wired to the neutral, the ground of the applicance will also be live.

Can I run a single neutral wire?

Running a neutral by itself from a different box is unsafe and not to code. Alternately you could run both power and neutral from outlet to switch, and then switched power and neutral to the light, and cap off the other wires in the light box.

Why would an outlet have 2 hot wires?

The reason for multiple hot/neutral wires for one outlet is that the outlets are daisy-chained together. This means hot/neutral is only coming from one of the wires and it is being sent to the other wire.

How do you fix a shared neutral?


Quote from Youtube video: Then locate the shared neutrals in the electrical box and remove the wire connectors that splicing them all together then separate and identify each circuits to neutral conductors.

What is a mixed neutral?

Mixed neutrals are when the neutral wires on two different circuits are tied together somewhere. For example, a bedroom can have outlets on one circuit, and ceiling lights on a different circuit. The switch by the door can have a switch for the outlet, and a switch for the light.

What is a borrowed neutral?

A borrowed neutral is when you have two seperate circuits but you have taken the neutral from one circuit to supply the other with a neutral.

What happens if you connect 2 hot wires?

Two hots of same circuit – nothing should happen.

Does a neutral wire carry voltage?

Voltage is carried by the live conductor, but a neutral conductor is also necessary for two important functions: Serving as a zero voltage reference point.

Does neutral wire have power?

To summarize: the hot wire carries electricity from the power supply and takes it to the load (lightbulb). Neutral wires take the used electricity from the load and bring it back to the power supply.