How do I wire a dimmer switch to replace my existing old switch? Dimmer has with 1 green wire and 2 black wires . My existing light switch has 1 black and 1 white.
Electrical – Adding a new dimmer switch to old wiring
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What you are looking for is a single-pole, 2-wire dimmer. That's a fairly standard item. An indicator light is a little less common, but not impossible to find.
Since you only have 2 conductors in the switch box, your switch is probably wired like this:
So it sounds like you have the wrong number of wires for your switch to have ever worked properly by your description, from the way that I read it.
SO I will try to understand. When you took off your three way switch was there three screws with three wires going to it? Plus perhaps your box is metal and has a bare ground screw at the back, or a bare ground somewhere as well as the other three wires?
Your house is really old but should have had an electrical upgrade. So I am assuming your cable has a separate, bare ground screw?
I am trying to see if perhaps the insulated(?) green wire you see is actually just a traveller for some sort of reason. And maybe there is another wire for the ground in the box.
Not knowing when your house was re wired last (since I am sure you do not have knob and tube) is making me wonder what the cables have inside them.
Could you please state what was on the original three way switch? Because those should be the wires you use for your new switch. I just want to make sure your bonded (grounded for simpler terms) properly.
Best Answer
The white wire to the switch should be the hot feed if it is wired according to code. Connect the white wire to the top black wire on your dimmer and connect the black wire from the cable to the other black wire. Connect the green to the bare wire on the cable (and to the box if it is metal.)
Make sure your light fixtures are dimmable and the dimmer is the right one for the type of lighting you have.