I know kind of which wires are which in a wall switch, but do not know what one wire is i do not need, just curious. Maybe something that was capped out when things were re-wired, who knows. So here’s the picture:
There are no grounds in my case, full metal conduit in the house and metal boxes. The white wire is hot. The yellow wire is the traveler. But you will also see that red wire that is capped off and connects to nothing. Any idea what this red wire would have been used for?
My best guess maybe from a switched outlet that is no longer switched?
For reference this currently powers a Lutron dimmer switch.
If you don’t know enough about electricity, let a qualified electrician figure it out. If you know about electricity, you know you can use a cheap multimeter to figure it out.
Thanks Francis. I’m going to disregard the electrician statement and move on.
I already know what wire is hot and which one is the traveler, and there is no neutral in the box. Using a Non-contact voltage tester on the red wire it just blinks red and beeps on and off. From this result, how would I use a multimeter to get more info? If this happens to be a random wire in the wall that is no longer used it will probably not show anything which I’m guessing the Non-contact voltage tester is showing no?
I agree with @francisp. If you don’t know what additional information a multimeter gives you, then you are not thinking about this straight and need a more informed opinion. Non contact testers are less reliable to detect live voltage.
Where are you located? It is my understanding that different countries have different wire coloring norms.
You could consider trying to trace where these wires come from, this might give you a better idea with less risk. Maybe the red wire is capped off at the other end too.
I’m going to try and keep a level head here however since I keep getting the same response apparently I have to respond. I will just say I’m looking for help and help to learn. We all know I can talk to an electrician. I’d have to be brain dead not to know I could spend $350 to have an electrician look at a single wire. I’m in the US for that matter and in every wall the wire colors are different.
There is no standards for my wiring and is all original when the house was built. if there is an inability to provide me help in learning that’s fine, but I already know I can call an electrician. I will trace the wire and figure it out.
Red is standard color code for a secondary circuit, usually a hot line. It’s appears your red wire is a leftover from previous wiring that is no longer used and just got capped off rather than pulled out. My suggestion is to leave it capped and alone.
Sorry for coming off this way @jriker1. I give you kudos for not jumping right in and doing something without gathering knowledge first. My suggestion is hopefully just a warning to consider strongly not to proceed if you cannot get 100% confirmation.
I hope you can trace it, there are wire tracers you can use, but you want to be absolutely sure that the wires have no live voltage before attaching one. I recommend a contact tester or multimeter to be absolutely sure.
Yeah that’s what I believe. I think the outlet next to it used to be switched and was redone with a 20 amp circuit for some computers. Looks like I’ll probably end up tracing it anyway since there is no neutral in this wall and will have to run one as I did in a few other rooms. For these switches I was just going to use non neutral required z-wave switches but the only one I found that had light almond, the inovelli, apparently either doesn’t have it or stopped including it in the box. All the Amazon reviews said it did and then opened the box and “white”
it confusing as the pic doesn’t show the whole picture
from what i can see the red is capped with the white
and it the white is the active load (aussie term) then your feeding a load back to the red that is going somewhere else
for us aussies the yellow is the switch wire
the wiring in other countries confuses me
it maybe an old 3 way setup (aussie call them 2 way)
black - hot
white - neutral
green - ground
red - traveler in a 3 way (your 2 way)
usually the switched wire is a black wire since it is (will be) hot when the switch is on. Sometimes to save a bit the electrician uses the white wire of as standard “Romex” wire bundle but should mark both ends with black electrical tape to denote that it’s a hot wire.
But, no, there is no requirement to run a neutral to a switch box. There should be a ground but I only see those in about half (or less) of switch boxes.
It could be an extra wire is ran from the light switch to the light box for the ability to run a fan/light separately. Just open up more boxes and see if you can find the other end.
In the us starting in 2011 NEC there is a requirement for a neutral in all switch boxes.
In this case red is likely a left over wire. If you know what the switch controls your can open that end and see if it’s connected to anything there. Continuity tester will confirm that it’s the same wire if you really want to go that far…
Since it’s metal conduit, odds are it’s an old house and been through some renovations (or it’s in Chicago).
Having said that, the mortality rate (per capita) in the US is nearly double that (1.8x) of the rest of the world when it comes to domestic electrocutions.
The picture is worse than useless (I agree with Harry13) which is why no electrically competent peson commented.
The ‘other’ members said it all.
To be honest I’m suprised to see finity here (so far, I’ve agreed with everything our legal counterpart has said on the matter, Nick, this means you ! )
Edit: Anglac clearly has some more recent US domestic installation knowledge. Finity - you are going to have to go back to school Industrial vs Domestic, hahaha ! )
So first of all people give those warnings because there is a certain amount of liabilty in telling someone what to do with regards to electricity, injury, death, and fire. But if you choose to continue…
There is not enough information to give you a single answer. What i would do is open other boxes, to the load and other switches and investigate, switching things on/off and testing the various wires. Then sit down and draw it out. Looking at this single box is not enough to proceed. Once you do figure it out keep the drawing for future reference for you and the next homeowner. A multimeter will allow you to investigate without having the circuit on, your wand will not
From a safety perspective, I always wear gloves and shoes and yes I still have been electrocuted twice. I am still typing because of these reasons.
There are any number of reasons that wire could be in there, but you won’t get a definitive answer on the internet. Given what you’ve said about your wiring coloring no being standardized it could very well be a neutral, it shouldn’t be but you never know. A non-contact voltage detector won’t go off for a neutral generally, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be current going through it at any given time. It also doesn’t tell you anything from a troubleshooting perspective though, you would need a multimeter to try to read any possible voltage, or trace it by means of checking for continuity. It’s best to just leave it how you found it if you don’t need to mess. If you do want to know still pay an electrician to come find out for you, rather than a bunch of anonymous people on the internet who may or may not be giving you good advice. You’re paying for that electrician’s knowledge and experience more than anything, when they come out to “look at a single wire”. A house with people living in it with no qualified person overseeing the work is not the place to learn electrical. I know that isn’t the answer you want to hear, but you know what they say about always getting what you want.
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Industrial vs Domestic, hahaha ! )