How to Wire an Aspire Dimmer
Dimmer switches do more than add mood lighting to a room. They can save you up to 50 percent on your lighting bill and extend the life of your bulbs almost 20 times the normal expectancy. Switches, like an Aspire dimmer switch, let you control the amount of electricity used by the fixture. Changing your old switches with a dimmer switch requires no special tools, switches already have switched ends and your house wires are already prepared as well. You can wire an Aspire dimmer switch in about an hour. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Aspire dimmer switch
- Flat head screwdriver
- Phillips head screwdriver
- Wire nuts
- Electrical tape
Instructions
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1
Turn off the power to the room where you'll be installing the switch at the fuse box. Remove the switch plate from the old switch by either prying it off the lock tabs with a flat head screwdriver or removing the face plate screws. Use a Phillips head screwdriver to remove the two long screws holding the switch box onto the wall. Pull the switch box from the wall and disconnect the wires from the switch and the house wires. The wires may be joined by a wire nut (unscrew the nut to disconnect the wires) or the house wires may be directly attached to the switch by terminal screws (loosen the screws and pull the wires free).
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2
Hold your Aspire dimmer switch up so the switch is in the "Off" position and toward the bottom of the switch. Connect the white wire from the Aspire dimmer switch to the white wire from the house with a wire nut. To use a wire nut, hold the two wires to be joined so the bare copper of the wires are together, place the nut over the wires (the nut looks more like a cone or cap) and twist it clockwise until you cannot twist it anymore.
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3
Connect the pigtail that came with the dimmer switch to the house ground. The pigtail has one wire connection on one end and then splits into two separate wires. Attach the single wire of the pigtail to the black house ground wire. Connect one of the remaining wires to the the black wire from your lighting fixture. Attach the last wire of the pigtail to the switch at the screw terminal in the back with the brass screw, not the green one.
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4
Join the red wire from the Aspire dimmer switch to the red or green wire from your fixture (this is the power supply wire for the fixture).
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5
Connect the uninsulated wire (the copper wire) that comes out of the black plastic housing of the dimmer switch to the green screw that is also in the back of the switch.
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6
Fold the wires into the switch box so they are not hanging loose and install the box onto the stud frame of the wall using the screws from the old switch. Place and secure the switch plate and you are ready to turn the power back on in the room.
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Tips & Warnings
Wrap each connection you make with a wire nut with electrical tape starting from the middle of the wire nut and overlapping the tape onto the insulation of the wire. This will prevent the wire nut from loosening when you fold the wires into the switch box.
All bare copper of the wires being connected must be completely covered by the plastic of the wire nut or they could short out causing a fire and potentially destroying the fixture.
