Light Switch wiring help

[SubieRubyRoo]

120v tingles a little bit. Still prefer it over the jolt of 277v

120V is actually more dangerous, because it’s enough voltage to cause muscular contraction but not instantly destroy tissue (like 480v does).

It’s why if you’re ever being really risky and checking for voltage without a meter or other electrical device, use the back of your hand. That way if it’s live, the muscle contraction will actually work in your favor and pull your extremity away from the voltage, rather than clamping your hand around it.

Just be safe; we lose enough members over time to natural causes. Don’t need to add more for easily avoidable accidents.

 

[eljefino]

Looks like this has already been solved, but looks like an old switch loop. Tape the white wire black on one line for a switch leg, basically just breaking the hot. This is how my house built in '65 was wired. No longer code as they now require the neutral in the switch box. It's grandfathered in, but the new ceiling fixtures I've installed (no ceiling fixtures in a couple rooms, just a a switched outlet for a table lamp) I had to go with current code.

Eh, I have my doubts because the fixture is out in the eaves, on what should be a dead-end. A ceiling fixture? Yes, absolutely, suspect a switch loop "drop" as it would have been convenient for the electrician. OTOH OP should be prepared for "anything", joys of owning an older house.

 

[Delta]

Eh, I have my doubts because the fixture is out in the eaves, on what should be a dead-end. A ceiling fixture? Yes, absolutely, suspect a switch loop "drop" as it would have been convenient for the electrician. OTOH OP should be prepared for "anything", joys of owning an older house.

I have a couple outdoor fixtures wire up the old way (switch loop) in my current house. It's definitely an odd collection of wiring techniques that's for sure. I wasn't even though of when the house was built in '65 so I don't even know what code was back then.

 

[factorytuned2012]

I have a couple outdoor fixtures wire up the old way (switch loop) in my current house. It's definitely an odd collection of wiring techniques that's for sure. I wasn't even though of when the house was built in '65 so I don't even know what code was back then.

You ever see fill code on a pancake box that would be an awful lot crammed into a pancake box lol. Seen a lot of that in the house I grew up in and my grandparents home. One built in 1948-49 the other 51

 

[opus1]

120V is actually more dangerous, because it’s enough voltage to cause muscular contraction but not instantly destroy tissue (like 480v does)...

Last week I saw a meme along these lines, I wish I thought to save it. I don't remember all of the text but the final picture said something along the lines of "480v will just blow your hand off"

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Last week I saw a meme along these lines, I wish I thought to save it. I don't remember all of the text but the final picture said something along the lines of "480v will just blow your hand off"

Probably the most graphic example of this I personally saw. A shipmate had been troubleshooting a motor controller for a flight deck elevator. 480VAC, 250HP motor. He did not engage the slide lock on the controller cabinet door to prevent inadvertent closing. A slight roll of the ship while he was checking the infeed side of the contactor, and the door swung and hit his elbow. This shoved his hand forward off the Fluke lead and into the connection block, completing the circuit between his finger, elbow, and cabinet door. 480 surged down his arm and blew a chunk of his elbow bone and the skin off where it touched the door, and 3rd degree burns where his finger hit the buss bar.

Medical department debrided the area, wrapped him up in gauze, handed him a ziploc baggie of 800mg ibuprofen and sent him back to work the next day, but we did have a safety stand down where he was forced to recount the issue to the entire electrical department and share what he had learned. I guarantee he still hasn’t forgotten that lesson, and that was 28 years ago.

 

[2005jettatdi]

I met up with him again this AM. Reinstalling the same kind of outdoor light right around the corner from the original post situation. It was a two switch controlling one light outside the door and at the top of the stairs. Before the siding contractor came there was an exterior light switch at the bottom of the stairs and the interior light switch inside the door at the top. Siding contractor must have bent the ears back on the switch and stuffed it inside the box and sided right over it. I didn't kill the breaker. I turned the switch off...or so I thought of is now up and on is down. I found out the hard way with a jolt.

I cannot recommend too strongly, buy and read Wiring Simplified before going any farther. Otherwise, leave it to an electrician. Home Depot and many other stores carry it. You can also get it from Amazon.

 

[Cropduster172]

I cannot recommend too strongly, buy and read Wiring Simplified before going any farther. Otherwise, leave it to an electrician. Home Depot and many other stores carry it. You can also get it from Amazon.

Thanks...but that ship has sailed. On to staining the deck.