Out Of This World Red Wire In Switch Box

Never work on a light switch with the power on.

Red wire in switch box. The red wire is for the light switch. Generally electrical socket boxes come with three wires each of them colored differently. But first let s get my disclaimer out of the way.

A red wire in an electrical outlet often indicates a second positive live wire. The black wire goes to the bundle of black wires. Or it could be the red wire is the wire going to the fixture and the black wires are the live wires.

I also have a post about a red wire in a light switch if you need that information. Certain switch loop configurations require a three conductor wire the extra wire is needed to complete the circuit at the switch. What if you re installing a ceiling fan.

And if you don t know which breaker controls the light you have. In this case you ll see a red wire. The red wire of a 3 wire cable that is used for lighting usually indicates that there is one or more switches within the circuit but this is best determined by using a voltage tester and visually inspecting the wiring connections of the circuit for verification.

Then the red wire in your box goes to the non white wire on your ceiling fan which is often blue. Sometimes when homes are wired the electrician will anticipate that they may be a ceiling fan installed which in that case you can install a combo switch to control the light and the fan separately. Hot wire with live 120 vac all the time.

You can t always rely upon the color of the insulation to guarantee what a wire actually does but there is often a general convention as follows. When you see a red wire in a 120 volt duplex outlet box it s usually because one of the outlets is operated by a wall switch while the other is always on. Has 120 vac if the switch is turned on.