Replacing old light switch in bath.

[angeleno2]

I'm replacing the light switch in my bath and bought a new switch, but this one looks different than the old one I took out. It has three screws two on the side and one green one on the top. THe old one only had one on each side. Now I replaced the switch and hooked up the green wire with the green (ground) screw on the top and the red wire on one of the screws on the other side but its not working. I know the old switch is broken cause when I hit the switch I can see that there is a short in the switch when I wiggle it. But this new switch should work right? What did I do wrong? Or should I just take it back and get another?

[ds549]

if you have only two wires,put one on each side of the switch.

[jebber007]

So you have a green wire and a red wire only? If you only have two wires, then you don't have grounding support, and they should be connected to the two side terminals. If there are three wires, then you'll want to connect the green wire to the ground (green) terminal and the other two wires to the remaining two terminals.

Jeb

____________________________________ Posted via Homerepairlive.com

[angeleno2]

Thanks, does it matter which terminals on the side I attach the wires?

[jebber007]

No it doesn't. Good luck.

Jeb

____________________________________ Posted via Homerepairlive.com

[Joseph Meehan]

Are you saying you have just two wires, one green and one red??? That is scary as you should never have just those two. You can have red and white, red and black and black and white. All three should have a green or bare copper ground in a modern home. For a switch you can add two black to the mix. With just two wires and one being green, you don't know which is live because someone screwed up. If the green was hot then you now have a death trap.

I would want to have someone with some experience check the mess out before doing anything else.

[Ben Miller]

DO NOT connect the green wire to the green screw! It could be very dangerous, since it sounds like the green wire, in this case, may be energized at line voltage. You have a wiring problem in your house, at least with regard to wire colors. The two wires should be something other than green. I strongly urge you to have an electrician check into this.

Ben Miller