Question about home light switch configuration

[high plains drifter]

I'd appreciate a little help if you're a shade-tree or pro electrician. I've done some basic electrical work but it's always straight-fwd stuff. This is a little different.

Here's the rundown- I'm wanting to replace a standard light-switch with a dimmer-switch. This is in a bathroom ( one switch for light/ one switch for fan... side by side/ one box/ double face plate).

*** Rest assured that power/ circuit is OFF whenever I'm working on electrical stuff and I also use a voltage meter***

The question is: How do I go about wiring in the new dimmer switch given the fact that the fan and the light are wired together? Normally a standard toggle switch would have the ground connected to ground wire ( green/ bare) and two lead wires ( one white/ one black). But this one is different. There is only one wire ( hot) attached to the light switch. The ground wire and the load/ return wire are attached to the fan switch.

So when I hook up the new dimmer switch, how should I configure the wires? I'm planning to keep the fan/ fan switch as they are.

Thanks much if anyone can help me out. I know this is a pretty simple thing but since I have never wired in a dimmer to a double functioning box, I want to make sure I'm doing it correctly.

 

[ferp420]

I'd appreciate a little help if you're a shade-tree or pro electrician. I've done some basic electrical work but it's always straight-fwd stuff. This is a little different.

Here's the rundown- I'm wanting to replace a standard light-switch with a dimmer-switch. This is in a bathroom ( one switch for light/ one switch for fan... side by side/ one box/ double face plate).

*** Rest assured that power/ circuit is OFF whenever I'm working on electrical stuff and I also use a voltage meter***

The question is: How do I go about wiring in the new dimmer switch given the fact that the fan and the light are wired together? Normally a standard toggle switch would have the ground connected to ground wire ( green/ bare) and two lead wires ( one white/ one black). But this one is different. There is only one wire ( hot) attached to the light switch. The ground wire and the load/ return wire are attached to the fan switch.

So when I hook up the new dimmer switch, how should I configure the wires? I'm planning to keep the fan/ fan switch as they are.

Thanks much if anyone can help me out. I know this is a pretty simple thing but since I have never wired in a dimmer to a double functioning box, I want to make sure I'm doing it correctly.

I think your discribing the wireing to a plug a switch goes between the hot wires so you should have 2 black wires in to the switch the white wires or comin should be tied together
I don't know how your light and fans are wired it there on the same switch then you would need to run separate wires but if there on separate switchs just replace the light switch with the dimmer no extra wiring needed

 

[high plains drifter]

Okay. I'll have to dig into the box to see exactly how it's wired running to the fan and light switches. Thanks... I really appreciate the reply.

 

[Steve g]

Your description is slightly contradictory, but seems like you have a piggy back switch ( 2 switches in a 1 gang box, one above the other) which should have 3 wires (ignoring the ground), one feed, 2 loads (light and fan). But then you say you only have 2 wires, 1 white and 1 black, which would indicate only 1 switch that simultaneously turns on the fan and the light. Either way, there is no simple swap here. You cant install a dimmer if it also contols the fan ( 1 switch situation), and if you do have a piggyback, it still won't work, as you'd need a 2 gang space to separate the switches to thier own space. Now there are fan speed controls with both dimmers and a fan speed built into a single switch space, but then you'd have a fan on a speed controller, and I've never seen that done before, but it might work.
Take a picture of the current switch and the wires on it.
Well i reread what you wrote. Disregard most of what i wrote. Seems like you should still have 2 wires going to your light switch, should be able to hook the dimmer to those two. But send a pic, and I'll be able to tell you what to do.

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[high plains drifter]

Thanks. steve. I'll snap a pic tomorrow when I'm back in there and I can pull those switches out to get a better look at everything.

 

[high plains drifter]

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There are 4 Romex conduits coming into the box ( 3 wires in each conduit sheath... load, ground, and hot for a total of 12 incoming wires). In my schematic the RED indicates the LOAD/ RETURN wires. The GREEN represents the COPPER/ GROUND wires. And the BLACK represents the HOT/ LEAD wires. All of the ground wires are connected together and all of the load wires are connected together. The remaining 4 black wires all go to the two switches ( plus a hot jumper shown in the crappy schematic below).

SO... how should this be reconfigured so that the fan switch is separate from the new dimmer switch?

 

[Neilo68]

the first switch right one i presume is where u want dimmer on that switch bottom wire is hot top is switch leg on the new dimmer should have 2 black wires disconect the bottom wire on old switch hook to one of the blacks and do the same with the other wire now the light on the fan should work as dimming but before u do anything turn on light and fan and go find breaker and kill the power

 

[Neilo68]

the black wire on the bottom that jumps from switch to switch is the constant hot just put the 2 that come off the switch and the new dimmer wire altogther on the bottom and the top black on the switvh by itself we go on the other wire thats on the dimmer u need to take a pic showing front of switches and one of the back of dimmer please showing wires this is simple just remove wires on the switch and connect to dimmer

 

[Jeff6x6]

Thanks. steve. I'll snap a pic tomorrow when I'm back in there and I can pull those switches out to get a better look at everything.

You do not need to pry around the box. The switch to the light has two wires. You are not worried about the neutral or the other switch. As long as the light is incondescent it is controlling no problems. Just remove both wires to the switch. The neutral is already wired in...so forget about it. Look at the instructions for the dimmer with the two wires. If they are the same color coming out of the dimmer then it doesn’t matter what wire you terminate coming out of the wall. If they are colored..usually one black and one red...then put a meter to them to identify the hot. I would have matched a faceplate for whatever dimmer you picked to be able to sit next to the existing fan switch. Some are decor...some are the old round nob. I did not see the pics until now.

 

[Steve g]

Nice schematic. As others said, that wire going from switch to switch is the hot leg. That wire should be spliced with 2 tails coming off, so each switch has its own. You can leave it and just install the dimmer as is on the 2 wires that arw on the old switch. Most dimmers (at least the ones I install) are both 3 way and single pole, so if you have aycl153p (adriani dimmer, looks like a toggle with a slider on the side), you want the hot on the common, the darker screw, and the light on the screw across from it, on the other side. If it has wires coming out, you want the black on the hot, the red on the light, and cap off the red with the white stripe. But if there's only 2 blacks, its just one to one, doesn't matter which one. And if its an LED dimmer, there should be a adjustment slider wheel on the side, which you can't access after you put in the plate. So once the power is on, turn the light on, dim it all the way down, and adjust that untill the light goes off, then adjust up slowly until the light comes on. Then turn off and on, making sure the light turns back on while the dimmer is fully dim. If you don't have an led dimmer, disregard all that. FYI, I have several electrical licenses in a few states, so feel free to ask anything.

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[high plains drifter]

I really appreciate the help.. Sincere thanks to you all. I should've mentioned: the current light in the bathroom is incandescent but I'm changing that out to dimmable LED. The light is above the vanity ( completely separate from the exhaust fan). I can't seem to enlarge the images of the actual light-switch below but it's LED compatible/ single-pole. It states: "Device can be wired into either 3-way location (load side or line side)". I'm using this particular dimmer switch because it's compatible with the standard double cut-out face-plate that I already have.

BTW- I don't think I should have written "LIGHT SWITCH" and "FAN SWITCH" on the schematic because it appears as if the words are somehow supposed to correlate to the yellow lugs on the sides which they are not lol.

 

[Neilo68]

yeah u r single pole so it should have darker screw that is the hot and top one should be gold switch leg

 

[Lesorivel]

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