Installing a dimmer switch


  #1  
Old 11-17-04, 04:58 PM
jrabinow
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Installing a dimmer switch

I live in a condo and want to replace my light switch with a dimmer switch. The lighting in the room is the recessed spot lights in the ceiling. The master bedroom and guest bedroom lighting are on teh same circuit. When I repleced the switch in the master bedroom with a dimmer switch (600 WATT) I lost power in teh guest bedroom even though it worked in the master bedroom. As a result I put the original switch back on and ev erythign works. Is there a special dimmer I need for this? Thank-you for your help.
 
  #2  
Old 11-17-04, 05:30 PM
J
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Is this just a simple switch, or a 3-way or 4-way switch? How many screws are on the switch and what color are they?

Give us a complete inventory of all the wires in the switch box. How many cables, how many wires in each cable, what color they are, and how they are connected.
 
  #3  
Old 11-17-04, 07:35 PM
jrabinow
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It seems to be a regular basic switch. There are three wires connected to it and they are all black with white paint on them. Is this what you mean?
 
  #4  
Old 11-17-04, 08:32 PM
J
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That's a start. Give a shot at the other questions I asked.
 
  #5  
Old 11-18-04, 06:50 AM
jrabinow
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Well there is one screw on the side of the switchwith a wire, I assume the ground, attached to it and two screwed one on the top and bottom attaching the switch to the wall. In the hole in the wall there is also another set of three wires as well that look the same as the ones attached to the light switch.
 
  #6  
Old 11-18-04, 07:12 AM
J
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That's still not all my questions. Let me repeat the questions with numbers. Make sure you answer each question:
  1. Is this just a simple switch, or a 3-way or 4-way switch? You said that it's not a 3-way or 4-way.
  2. How many screws are on the switch? You seemed to answer this question, but I'm not sure I understood the answer. Forget about the screws that attach the switch to the box for a minute. How many other screws are there on the switch. I'm just looking for one number here.
  3. and what color are they? There are no colors in your answer. I'm interested in the color of each screw head. You might, for example, says that the top left screw has a brass-colored head, the bottom left screw has a silver-colored head, the bottom right screw has a black head, and the bottom right screw head is green.
  4. How many cables? I want to know how many cables come into the box from behind the wall through holes in the box. A cable is a collection of wires in a sheath. You should be able to see a bit of the sheath inside the box before the individual wires emerge from the sheath. Your house may be wired with conduit instead of cable, which means that you don't have any cables. If so, say so. Otherwise tell me, for example, that two cables enter the box: cable #1 through the top left hole and cable #2 through the top right hole.
  5. how many wires in each cable and what color are they? Cables typically contain some combination of wires, each with a different color of insulation. So I'm looking for information such as cable #1 contains black, white and bare (i.e., no insulation), and cable #2 contains black, red, white and bare.
  6. how they are connected? So here I want to know what is connected to what. You should mention every wire identified in the prior question. For example, you might say that the white wire from cable #1 is connected to the white wire from cable #2, the black wire from cable #1 is connected to the top brass-colored screw on the switch, the black wire from cable #2 is poked into a hole next to the screw with the black wire from cable #1, and the red wire from cable #2 is connected to the bottom brass-colored screw on the switch
 
 

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