In North America, the 2 electrical power supply wires are called Line and Neutral and originate from a Circuit Breaker in an Electrical Panel. The Line wire has black insulation and the Neutral wire has white insulation.

What are the wires in my light switch box?

Basic Knowledge of How to Wire a Light Switch

  1. Black Wire – This is the hot or load wire.
  2. White Wire – This is the neutral wire.
  3. Bare Copper (Green) Wire – This is your ground wire.
  4. Red Wire – This wire is used for 3 or 4 way switches and will connect the switches together so they can each control your lights.





What is done with the neutral wires inside of a switch box?

If the neutral wire disconnects, it would stop the flow of the electricity and break the circuit. The role of the neutral wire is to provide this path to the electrical panel to complete the circuit.

What are the two wires in a light switch?

There are two ways to wire a two-way switch with 2-core cable like you have: one where the switch is between the supply and the light fixture(s). This is how your switches are wired. As you can see from the diagram, the white wire is used — it completes the circuit back to the electrical supply’s neutral line.

What is the 2 terminal on a light switch?

A one way light switch has two terminals which is a common marked as COM or C. The common is for the live wire that supplies the input voltage to the switch. The other terminal is marked as L1 and is the output to the light fixture.

What color wires are neutral?





white wire

The white wire is the “neutral” wire, it takes any unused electricity and current and sends it back to the breaker panel. The green wire (or it can sometimes be uncolored) wire is the “ground” wire, it will take electricity back to the breaker panel, then outside to a rod that’s buried in the ground.

Can I tie the 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.

How do you wire up a 2 way switch?

Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: We therefore take the live wire and divert this into the common terminal or switch one we run another wire from the common terminal or switch to and connect this to the lamp.

How do I wire up a 2 way switch?



Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: It will have one terminal in and two terminals out each terminal on an spdt switch has a name the input terminal is called common the output terminals are called normally open and normally closed

What wire goes to L1 and L2?

The incoming circuit wires that provide the power are referred to as the line wires. L1 (line 1) is a red wire and L2 (line 2) is a black wire. Together, they show the motor voltage. Having both an L1 and L2 indicate that the motor voltage may be 240 volts.

Does neutral go into L1 or L2?

The faceplate of a single, one-way switch has two terminals: “L1” is the terminal to which the neutral core wire is attached – the blue wire (traditionally black, before the change). “COM” or “Common” is the terminal to which the live core wire is attached – this is the brown wire (formerly red).

Is L2 live or neutral?



L1 is live and L2 is neutral.

Is L1 or L2 live?

The L1 is the switched live going out to the light. They will be marked so you can tell which is which. A two way switch (for switching a light from two different locations like in a hallway) has a common (C) a L1 and an L2 terminal. L1 is off when L2 is on and vice versa depending on the switch position.

What Colour wire goes in L2?

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

How do you wire a L1 L2 switch?

Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: One-way switch like this you've got your common on the top and you've got your l1 at the bottom if you've got a two ways switch you'll have an l1. And an l2 at the bottom.

What color is L1 wire?



AC Power Circuit Wiring Color Code Standards

Function Label Common Color
Line, single phase L black or red (2nd hot)
Line, 3-phase L1 black
Line, 3-phase L2 red
Line, 3-phase L3 blue

What Colour wire goes to L and N?

The N is for the neutral side or the white wire, and the L is for the load side, the black wire.

What is L1 and L2?

These terms are frequently used in language teaching as a way to distinguish between a person’s first and second language. L1 is used to refer to the student’s first language, while L2 is used in the same way to refer to their second language or the language they are currently learning.