How to Install an Inline Dimmer Switch
Inline dimmer switches control the amount of electricity that reaches the light fixture, allowing for the changing of a room's ambiance by brightening or dimming the light in the room. Dimmer switches easily fit into a standard-sized wall switch box and hook up to basic electrical cable, known as either 12-2 or 14-2 wire. Once the old light switch has been removed, installing the dimmer switch is not a time-consuming process, even for a person of limited electrical installation experience. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Turn the power off to the light circuit, by flipping the corresponding circuit breaker in the house's main breaker box. Check that the power is off, by turning on the light switch that will be replaced -- it stays off, if the power is off. Alternatively, use a Wiggy to test the circuit.
-
2
Remove the two screws in the old switch plate with a screwdriver and take off the switch plate. Unscrew and remove the screws holding the old switch to the switch box. Carefully pull out the switch from the box.
-
-
3
Loosen the two terminal screws holding the two black wires to the back of the switch, and pull out the wires. Remove the old switch. Cut off the bare copper wires at the end of two black insulated wires using a wire cutter. Strip off 3/8-inch of black insulation from the end of each black wire by using a wire stripper.
-
4
Hold one black wire coming from the back of the dimmer switch to one black wire coming from the switch box. Twist a wire nut over the two wires, in a clockwise direction. Hold the remaining black wires from the dimmer and switch box together and twist on another wire nut. The two neutral wires from the switch box should be placed together with a wire nut twisted over their ends. Attach the green ground wire from the dimmer to the ground screw in the back of the switch box that holds the other two green ground wires in place.
-
5
Push the wires into the back of the switch box and carefully push the dimmer switch into the box. Install the dimmer to the switch box with the two screws -- ensure that the dimmer sits vertically in the box. Install the new dimmer's switch plate, by threading in and tightening its two screws.
-
6
Turn the power back on at the breaker. Test the dimmer to see that it works. If it does not, turn off the power and check all wire connections to see that they are installed in the right place.
-
1
