Formidable Line And Load On Switch
Outlets receptacles switches light fixtures and other electrical devices typically are wired in multiples on a single circuit.
Line and load on switch. Also on some traditional switches the line wire is connected with a black or silver screw that is a different color than any other screws on the switch. Yes there will be some slight differences on weather or not to pigtail a short wire that leads from the switch to the yellow caps the load and or line but your ground and neutral should always be pigtailed. Line wire generally connected to the bottom half of your switch.
I accidentally swapped them on an enerwave switch when first installing. Load wire generally connected to the top half of your switch. When referring to an electric device that can be connected to another one such as a receptacle line refers to the wires feeding it from the panel which is upstream from the device in terms of the flow of electricity.
This is a diagram of what you re automated hardwired light switch should generally look like when you are done. Prjct92eh2 jimmy december 16 2015 5 57pm 3. If the wire is coming from the top of the switch box it is likely your load wire.
On the other hand load refers to devices on the same circuit that are downstream of the one in question. Does anybody know what happens if you connect the load cable in the line spot of the switch and viceversa. The traveler wires from the second switch get connected to the same two brass terminals on the first switch.
The black line wire or load wire that is not connected to the second 3 way switch gets connected onto the common copper or black terminal of the first 3 way switch. Depends on the exact model of switch and your exact wiring. In some cases line wires are marked with line pwr or a lightning bolt symbol.
With the first device the line is the wire running from the service panel to the device and the load is the wire running from the first device to the second device downstream on the circuit.