View Full Version : Ceiling light wiring-1 dimmer switch and 1 wall switch
Sylvester1
Apr 20, 2011, 06:58 AM
My new ceiling light has black,white and green wires. My ceiling box has 1 single black,1 copper, 2 white grouped together and 2black and a 1white grouped together. How do I connect my new light with only 3 wires to all the ceiling box wires. I have a dimmer switch on one side of the room and a regular light switch on the other side of the room.
Please help.
Thank you in advance,
Colleen
donf
Apr 20, 2011, 08:10 AM
Colleen,
What a fine and beautiful name you have, lassie.
Okay, I need to know if the snap switch is a three way switch or not. The easiest way to know this is to look at the handle of the switch. If you see the words "On" and "Off" on the handle, then you have a simple snap switch.
If you do not see those words, then you have either a three way or four way switch.
Your wiring grouping does not make sense, can you please take a picture of the outlet for the light as well as the dimmer switch (we will call it "SW 2") connections as well as the snap switch ("SW 1") and use the advanced tab to clip them to this thread.
Normally you will have a supply cable to the lighting outlet. That would be a Black/white and bare ground to feed the circuit.
I suspect that you have two switch loops, one to feed the snap switch and one to feed the dimmer, I will not know for sure until I see the wiring at the switches.
Normally, the white wires from the switch loops are connected to the black on the supply line. They feed the switches. The blacks from the switch loops return from the switches to the fixture.
The White from the supply cable will connect to the white on the light. All of the bare conductors will connect to the green wire on the light. The blacks from the switches will connect to the black on the light.
Make sure you do this with the circuit power off to protect yourself from getting shocked.
Kyle_in_rure
May 7, 2011, 08:46 AM
IT sounds like you have power feeding the fan and then feeding the two switches; you might call the switches "end of the run" switches. A way to tell might be taking the cover plate off both switches and checking if you only have set of cable in each. If this is the case, you would probably wire your black fan wire to your single black wire, the white fan wire to the 2 whites grouped together (NOT the two blacks and one white), and of course attach the ground wires. Since I don't have a clear picture, I'm not positive this is correct, but I think it is. Hope this helped.