I am installing some light fixture, and I put a switch on the white color wire (neutral). I read some article, it said it should be on the hot (black) wire.. Do I have to switch it? or is it okay to leave it the way it is? what is the difference?
Simon
Change it.
The difference is that if the switch is "off" a person doing some work on the light fixture -- e.g., replacing it by a new one -- would expect the black to be "dead" and might end up dead him/herself instead.
MB
On 09/20/04 04:21 pm NOSPAM put fingers to keyboard and launched the following message into cyberspace:
It was never truer said...
Fools rush in where angels dare to tread......
"Learn by doing" is pretty good for stuff you can see, but electricity is invisible (Until it bites you...)
Simon, move that switch to the black lead before you fry some innocent person changing that light fixture maybe 10 or more years from now.
And, you should learn how to make sure that the black wire really *is* the "hot" one. Someone with your present skill level may have worked on the wiring ahead of the point you're at previously and switched colors on you.
HTH,
Jeff
That's "Where angels FEAR to tread."
Yep, I saw that during the uhohsecond between clicking on "Send" and the screen clearing, dammit!
Thanks,
Jeff
No. It's unsafe. The switch should disconnect the 'hot' or 'live' wire, which is usually the black or in some cases a red wire. While the light switch will/may appear to work Ok you would find that with the neutral switched off the light fixture will be alive and potentially dangerous. Also if a fault developed in the light fixture or it's wiring it could potentially overheat or be 'live' to someone unknowingly touching or working on it, maybe years from now. For example someone, perhaps your relative or a stranger, trying to remove a broken off lamp bulb and thinking the electricity is 'off' could get a lethal shock perhaps while standing on a step ladder, fall and be injured. Your liability/house insurance probably wouldn't cover you if the miswiring was discovered!
Thanks a lot guys... really appreciated for all your comments, I will change it ASAP.
I agree with what you started to say. but i think you go very wrong when you suggest that someone may injure themselves working in the connection box with the switch OFF. Switching off the light at a switch is NEVER the right way to turn off the power. anyone that does that should be very electricity-wise and check with a volt-meter before touching any wires. ...thehick
Someone named frank-in-toronto Proclaimed on Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:36:53 GMT,
That's NOT what he said.
On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 10:40:37 -0700, NOSPAM wrote (in article ):
While you're at it, you might make sure that the light fixture itself is connected properly. The switched "hot" should connect to the center terminal (usually a gold screw or black pigtail wire) and the "neutral" should connect to the screwshell (usually a silver screw or white pigtail wire).
This is required by Code and makes sense. If someone were changing the bulb with the switch on, and the screwshell were connected to the "hot", they could possibly get a dangerous shock. With the center terminal connected to the "hot" it's much less likely.
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