Electrical – What to do with dimmer ground wire

The loop in the black wire is normal when electricians are running a hot wire from device to device. It saves them time and is really safer since it involves fewer wire nuts.

The orange wire is the wire that is going to the light. The power enters the switch where the black wire is looped over the screw, and exits to the light through the orange wire.

Yes, attach the green wire to the green screw. But, you need to wire the blacks from the switch differently. One switch black is for the incoming power, and the other is for the exiting power. So, one needs to be connected to the same black that is connected to the old switch; and one needs to be connected to the orange.

I would, with the power off at the circuit breaker panel, and after testing to make sure the black at the switch is not hot, cut the existing black to form two separate wires and strip the ends appropriately. Then I would connect one of the black wires from the new switch to these two wires with a wire nut. After that, connect the other black for the new switch to the orange with a wire nut. That should do it, and your dimmer should now work. Good luck, and be careful!

PS: I personally use a Fluke 1AC-A1-II Volt-Alert AC Non-Contact Voltage Tester to verify or locate hot wires and love it. You might want to check it out for the future. Its inexpensive too. Note: I have no personal connection to Fluke; I just think good products like this are worth spreading the word about.

If the switch has screw terminals as opposed to wire leads you DO have to pig-tail a piece of wire to the splice and then connect that tail to the switch. DO NOT place more than one wire under a binding screw terminal, unless of course it is designed for it. Even in that case it would only be designed for up to two wires.

Do you have a model number for this switch?

Regarding the neutral wires in the box, NO not every wire goes back to the breaker box. This is why you have several whites. One is a feed and the others are feed out to other items on the same circuit. If there is more than one circuit in the box then the neutrals from those different circuit should NOT be spliced. The only time this is not the case is if it is a multi-wire branch circuit (shared neutral).