How to replace dimmer switch with regular switch


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Old 05-22-11, 01:17 PM
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How to replace dimmer switch with regular switch

My daughter's room has a dimmer switch that I want to replace with a regular single pole switch. I pulled the dimmer switch out of the box but now I'm confused as to how to wire the regular switch. There's only one 14-2 romex in the box, coming down from the ceiling light. There's no power supply line coming in from the bottom of the box. The dimmer switch has 2 black wire pigtails on it - one wired to the black wire and one to the white wire in the romex.

My question is, on the regular switch, where do I put the romex black and white wires?

When looking at the switch in the Off position, the 2 screws are on the right hand side, one towards the top and one towards the bottom. But they are not labeled so I'm not sure which wire goes where. Which wire goes where?

Thanks.

Mark
 
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Old 05-22-11, 01:33 PM
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Doing some more searching I guess this is called a "Light Fed Single Pole" or "Light Fed S1" setup? Sounds like it's not the best, but it's been that way since 1970 when my house was built.
 
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Old 05-22-11, 01:40 PM
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It's called a switch loop, and all you do is connect the black to one of the screws, the white with black tape on the other(it doesn't matter which one, as long as it is not green), and the bare on the green screw.
 

Last edited by ray2047; 05-22-11 at 02:31 PM. Reason: Transposed two word terminology.
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Old 05-22-11, 02:10 PM
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I was wondering maybe if it didn't matter where the black and the white went. Thanks.

Will it be possible to replace the existing ceiling light with a ceiling fan/light? That's the reason I'm getting rid of the dimmer switch. Will this loop switch prevent me from installing the fan/light?
 

Last edited by ray2047; 05-22-11 at 02:33 PM.
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Old 05-22-11, 02:34 PM
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"Switch loop" is the more common term. Yes, you can use it for a fan. The switch will control both the fan and light.
 
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Old 05-22-11, 03:01 PM
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The switch loop will not need to control both the fan and the light. You can wire the fan to the constant hot and will use the pull chains to operate the fan. The light kit can be controlled by the switch.

The constant hot will be the black that has a white spliced to it.

You will also need to change the current fixture box to one that is rated for fan support. Pay attention and label all the splices before you remove the box.
 
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Old 05-22-11, 03:28 PM
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We're fine with having the switch control both the light and fan - that's how we did it in our older daughter's bedroom last weekend when we put her fan up (that install was more straight forward with just one romex going to the ceiling box). I did install a new fan rated box (this one) in older daughter's room, but seeing how many wires are in my younger daughter's ceiling box (four separate 14-2 romex) I'm worried about getting all those wires tucked back into the new fan rated box. Do they make an extra large fan rated box for this purpose?
 
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Old 05-22-11, 04:05 PM
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You should be able to find a similar style box with a deeper box.
 
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Old 05-22-11, 04:45 PM
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Would something like this work?

http://www.aifittings.com/products/pdf/fbrs4200r.pdf

It says the box is 2" deep. I do have access to the attic above to install the new box so I don't necessarily need a retrofit box.

Anyone know how/where I can buy this box? Looks like they don't sell to end users.
 
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Old 05-22-11, 04:55 PM
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Or how about either of these (I'm not sure what the difference is)?

Product Datasheet -- 927
Product Datasheet -- 928

This is the same manufacturer of the kit I used in my older daughter's room that I got at Lowes. I wonder if I could order either one listed above from Lowes?
 
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Old 05-22-11, 06:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Indiana627
Would something like this work?

http://www.aifittings.com/products/pdf/fbrs4200r.pdf

It says the box is 2" deep. I do have access to the attic above to install the new box so I don't necessarily need a retrofit box.

Anyone know how/where I can buy this box? Looks like they don't sell to end users.
Check with any supply house that handles Arlington products, many do. Or, buy it online somewhere like this
https://www.frostelectric.com/index....&ID=,ARLINGTON
 
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Old 05-22-11, 07:03 PM
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The big box stores should have different styles of boxes available on the shelf.
 
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Old 05-23-11, 07:18 AM
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I bought the one Raco box from Lowes and I plan on going back to see if they have either model I posted above available in store.

Product Datasheet -- 927
Product Datasheet -- 928

Does anyone see a real difference between these?
 
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Old 05-23-11, 07:42 AM
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I did not see any difference between those two images.
 
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Old 05-23-11, 08:04 AM
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Me neither. Weird they have 2 separate product numbers.
 
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Old 05-29-11, 09:43 AM
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I ended up finding a Westinghouse Saf T Brace kit model 01400 at HD that came with the 2 1/8" deep box. Installed everything yesterday so I can finally cross this project off the list. Thanks for the help.
 
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Old 05-29-11, 09:47 AM
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Good job. Thanks for letting us know.
 
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Old 05-30-11, 06:14 AM
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Originally Posted by Indiana627
I bought the one Raco box from Lowes and I plan on going back to see if they have either model I posted above available in store.

Product Datasheet -- 927
Product Datasheet -- 928

Does anyone see a real difference between these?
"928" is a 6 pack and "927" is a 12 pack of the same item.
 
 

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