Electrical wiring by yourself can be tricky, never use multiple choice to solve live circuit problems. Lack the knowledge or experience can make electrical wiring very dangerous. Trial and error is another unsafe method dealing with electrical wiring. Mistakes could cost you a fortune or even your life. That is why before starting any do-it-yourself electrical repair, you should ask very experienced, licensed, bonded and insured person. Wires are usually color coded making it easier to know which ones attaches but reading schematics are required. Below are the most common electrical wiring questions whose answers generally involve colors to help you identify each particular wire.
How Do You Wire a Switch?
One of the most common electrical wiring questions is on how to wire a switch. While using switches at home is quite easy, wiring one may not be that easy for everybody. An ON-OFF switch is actually quite simple to wire. There are different types of switches, but for this example, let’s say you are installing a single-pole toggle switch in your bedroom, a very common switch (and the simplest).
One of many ways to wire switch here – There are three colors wires in a typical single-pole toggle switch. black, white, and green (bare copper). Splice the (hot)black wire coming from breaker panel by connecting on the terminal screw – top or bottom does not matter– and connect the black wire to the light fixture on the other screw of the switch. The white wire is the neutral and connects to the white going to the fixture using wire nut. Connect the green(bare) wire to the ground screw of your switch.
These steps would generally be sufficient to make a typical single-pole switch work without a problem. Then again, if you are not confident that you can accomplish the task properly and safely you better let the pros do it instead. After all, there’s a reason why this task is one of the most common electrical wiring questions asked by most people.
How Do You Wire a Ceiling Fan?
For some reason, how to wire a ceiling fan is also one of the most common electrical wiring questions. To simplify this task, you can use a single switch for a single ceiling fan. To wire the fan, it’s just a matter of connecting the black wire of the ceiling fan to the black wire running to the switch. If there is a light, the blue wire should be connected to a completely different switch or tied together with the ceiling fan hot or black wire. Tying them together will make them come on at same time. Make up white and green, That is it..