I have an outside switch to control a light in the garage. The white wires are connected in the box and there is one black and one red wire. How do I connect them to a single pole switch.
Wiring single pole switch
wiring
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No way from here to know which wire fed the light or fan, but you have a continuous hot feed into the box that fed the receptacle, light and fan. The third wire, maybe it fed the fan or maybe something something else farther down the line, if the latter that needs to be tied in 100 percent to the hot feed. All whites still tied together, blacks to the dimmer from the light and hot. All grounds tied together set with a screw to the metal box. Securing the ground to the box is not needed if the box is plastic.
Before I got too wordy, here is a sketch
Still have to learn to format better
The sketch is a little rough, it should get the idea across I hope
Based on what you've shown, you should be able to wire it up like this...
However, those red Wing-Nut® twist-on wire connectors are only rated for a maximum of 6 #14 conductors. So you'll have to split up the neutrals in to two groups, and connect the groups with a pigtail between them.
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Best Answer
If this is the way you found it and you're sure there used to be a switch there, connect the black wire and the red wire to the two screw terminals on a single pole toggle switch.
If you're not sure, then remove the wire nut from the white wire and test for 120 Volts between the black wire and the white wires with a multi meter. Also check for voltage between the red wire and the white (there should be none). Trace the red wire to the garage light to verify it's for the light.
Turn the breaker on only when checking for voltages and leave it off when doing any work or mounting the switch into the box.