Electricians – Installing a New Dimmer
Most often you may try to find electricians located in your area for small tasks like installing a dimmer. Having one in your bedroom can be very useful because it will allow you to reduce or increase the amount of light according to your mood. Another important use of dimmers is saving energy. Often they last longer too. If you want to install a dimmer in your room you don’t have to take the help of a professional. You may be wasting your time and money by looking out for electricians. You can do it yourself and save time and money. Here is how you can fix it yourself.
First locate the main service panel, shut off the circuit and take off the housing above your switch. Lift the switch by unscrewing it. Let the screw terminals not touch the metal box. Use a neon tester to know if there is power on the bare grounding wire and one terminal. Repeat it for the next terminal too. You can proceed if there is no glow. Using cutters cut off the wires from the terminals and insulate them. Wire the new dimmer.
A dimmer which has two black wires has no polarity. Twist each dimmer wire to both switch wires and screw a wire nut. If there is a green wire on the dimmer, attach it to the grounding wire. If the dimmer has both red and black wires connect the black one to the power line which is incoming and the red wire to the lights (load). You can identify the wires by pulling both of the switch wires from the box. If the box is made of plastic you can pull the bare wires also. These have to be well apart from each other. Switch on the power. Use the tester to identify the bare wire and the switch wire. When the tester glows it is the power line and the other one is load.
Check out Champs Electrical for more basic electrical information.
