Hi all, I am replacing my single pole light switch and noticed when I removed the old switch that there are three black wires coming from the box. All the white wires are capped together and the same is for the ground wires. Of the three black wires, only one of them is hot. The old switch was attached with two blacks inserted into the back of the switch with another black attached to the screw. I am confused on how to rewire the switch. I forgot to write down which wire went where when I removed the old switch so it is my own fault. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I've looked around and haven't really gotten a solid answer one way or another on this. I've been in the process of rewiring my house (adding/replacing/relocating circuits). My house is about 980 SF, has just one floor, and was built in 1949. It's actually an old Sears catalog home. I'm going from an old 10-space/40-Amp panel to a 40-space/200-Amp panel. I'm re-circuiting the whole house to try to isolate loads and/or parts of the house, and to even out the load on each circuit. I have been installing receptacles, switches, etc. little by little as I have time. I am basically installing them wherever they have to go in the first floor (or in some cases running the power into the attic for ceiling lights), and letting a few feet of wire hang down into the basement. When I'm at the point where I'm ready to start circuiting them together and running them to the new panel, I've just been nailing a single-gang plastic box to the floor joist and wire-nutting the few feet hanging down from above to the main line going back to the panel. Obviously these junction boxes are adding up...there are at least 10-12 of them, and will likely be more. Obviously, this is not an ideal way to do it - I realize that. In a perfect world, I would have a single piece of wire going from each circuit to the panel. When I started the job, this wasn't really feasible (too many variables I guess), so I have been moving forward with my current method. In just about every case, there is only one - MAYBE two - of these splices per circuit. I'm making sure that the splices are solid and that the boxes have covers on them. Anyone have any thoughts? Suggestions? As I said - I know this isn't the best way to do things, but it's too late for that discussion. I just want to know if this is completely out of the ordinary or if this is more common in renovation work. Thanks a lot. Brian Edit: FYI - none of the new circuits are being used. the new panel hasn't been energized yet.