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A dimmer switch is one of life's little conveniences that,
once installed, you wonder how you ever got along without!
Any standard single-pole wall switch is a good candidate
for replacement with a dimmer switch – as long as there's
ample room in its electrical box and the light it's
controlling is of the incandescent persuasion. Don't try to install a dimmer in an undersized box or one
that's already jam-packed with circuit wires, and never
use a dimmer to control a fluorescent light. All types of
dimmer switches have wire leads instead of screw
terminals, so make sure you have the right size wire
connectors on hand. |
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 A three-way
dimmer has an additional wire lead. This "common" lead is
connected to the common circuit wire. On a three-way
switch, the common circuit wire is the one attached to the
darkest (or copper) screw terminal on the old switch; it
also may be labeled with the word COMMON on the switch
itself. Only one of the pair of three-way switches may be
a dimmer switch; both switches will turn the light fixture
on and off, but only one can control its intensity. |
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Turn off
power to the circuit at the main service panel. Use a neon
circuit tester to make sure the power is off. Connect the
wire leads of the dimmer switch to the circuit wires using
wire connectors. The switch leads are interchangeable and
can be attached to either of the two circuit wires. If
your dimmer switch happens to have a third (green) wire,
this is a grounding lead; attach it to the grounded metal
electrical box or the circuit's bare copper grounding
wire.