Dimmer Switches for DIY Dummies

Wiring a three-way switch

It's come to the staff's attention that Leaf Group has engaged what we call a "cleanup team" to perform rewrites on some of the content they'd ported over from eHow to their niche sites. There are, however, mixed results: some of the posts are being rewritten by knowledgeable people, while the rest are rewritten by freelancers who appear to be just as ignorant of the topic at hand as the freelancer who wrote the original. A case in point is "How to Install a Standard Switch From a Dimmer Switch," a Blake Flournoy production at Hunker.com.

Much of what Flournoy posted is merely reworded from the original, a post written by psychology grad and public relations type Jeremy Holt, except that the rewrite is about 100 words longer. Their introductions are almost identical before they launch into the instructions, which begin with Blake telling their¹ readers to,

"...make sure that the power to the room is off."

That's another example of eHowian "instruction" that assumes that your breaker box is organized by room. No, Blake (and Jeremy), the breakers are organized by circuit, not room; and circuits don't pay any attention to the name of the room. In fact, the notion that you can determine whether the power is off to the switch by testing the outlets is dangerous – they're rarely on the same circuit as the lights.
Once that's out of the way, Flournoy (like Holt before them) cribs a bunch of steps from Lowe's, beginning with,

"...test the two black wires attached to the dimmer switch..."

We hate to tell you, Blake, but there aren't always two black wires: sometimes there's one, sometimes there are two, and sometimes one of the wires is red. Next, Flournoy goes into great detail about the wires; especially their different colors:

"The thick, green-coated or copper-colored wire will be your grounding wire, and the black and red-coated wires are your traveler wires. If you have a three-way switch, there will also be an additional wire – usually, its colors will be reversed (a red wire coming out of the switch instead of the switch box, for example) or it will be a strange, fourth color. This is your common terminal."

No, the red wire is the traveler in a three-way circuit (there isn't a red in a two-way circuit), the black is the line or load wire. As for "copper-colored"? Is that a new way to say "bare"? And what's this rubbish about a "strange, fourth color"? Shouldn't a self-described former "handyman's apprentice" like Flournoy know that the common wire is (almost always) white? Is that so strange? And there's also this:

"...if you have a three-way dimmer, you'll need a three-way switch, and so on..."

Our staff DIY electrician says that the dimmer switches he sees these days are all hybrid varieties that can be wired as either two- or three-way switches. In other words, it's a better practice to evaluate the circuit instead of looking at the switch – that is, if you know what a three-way switch actually is. Blake? And finally, the instruction that the OQ was most likely waiting for with bated breath:

"...attach the traveler and/or common wires from the switch box to the screws at the sides of the new switch..."

Ummm, Blake? Which wires to which screws?²  Flournoy's bio for Hunker says that "they made a name for themselves repairing appliances and installing home decor." We don't know about you, but if this Dumbass of the Day worked on our house, we might want to have it re-inspected...

¹ Flournoy's bios at Hunker and Sciencing both use gender-neutral pronouns. We'll follow their lead.
² Hint: the hot wire generally goes to the brass screw and the common wire goes to the silver screw.

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