How NOT to Wire Light Switches in 2024 (New Rules)

in this video I'll show you a few

options that we have for wiring both

single pole and three-way light switches

whether or not a white neutral wire is

required at all switch boxes or just

some of them and a new 2023 code update

that'll change how we wire light

switches from now on let's start out

looking at single pole switches and then

we'll move on to the three-ways there

are two methods we use when wiring

single pole switches the first method is

called the switch Loop this is when we

run our feed cable to the light fixture

box and then send a two wire Loop down

to the switch in the past this was

usually done with a two-wire cable like

142 Romax we would connect both the

black wire and the white wire to the

light switch but since the white wire is

not being used as a neutral in this case

it would need to be reidentified as a

hot wire this was usually done with

electrical tape using this method the

hot wire comes down from the feed at the

light box it goes through the switch and

then back up to the light box where it's

connected to light fixture the neutral

wire would stay up here at the light box

where it's needed for the light fixture

and not make its way down to the light

switch but two wire switch Loops using

cable like RX are no longer code

compliant for new installations I'll

tell you why and I'll show you how you

can still use cable switch loops and

remain code compliant but first first

let's take a look at the second wiring

method commonly used for wiring single

pole switches this is the way I wire

them and we'll call it the feed through

method in this case we take our feed

cable to the switch box first and then

another two-wire cable up to the light

box we connect our two white neutral

wires together in the switch box which

will carry the neutral up to the light

box where it's needed for the light

fixture the black hot wire from the feed

and the black switch leg to the light

will connect to the switch and then

obviously the ground wires will connect

together with a tail to the switch and

then continue up to the light box now

this is a code compliant wiring method

for single pole switches so why was our

two-wire switch Loop a code violation

because it didn't leave a neutral wire

in the single pole switch box and they

are required there back in 2011 article

4042 of the NEC was updated to require a

neutral wire at light switches the

reason for the update was many of the

new lighting controls and smart switches

were being introduced which required a

neutral wire to keep the electronics

functioning when people were replacing

existing light switches with the new

devices that required a neutral they

would often find they had no neutral

wire in the switch box so the device

would not work there were five

exceptions to 4042 and the 2011 code and

exception number two was the issue the

exceptions stated that a neutral wasn't

required where the Box en closing the

switch is accessible for the

installation of an additional or a

replacement cable without removing the

finished materials so this meant if you

could fish a wire down from the attic or

up from the basement or crawl space a

neutral wire would not be required for

the original installation so many light

switches were still being installed with

no neutral wire but in the newly updated

2023 National electrical code exception

number two was removed now a neutral

wire is required at a switch boox making

that two wire switch Loop a code

violation up next I'm going to show you

how we can still legally use switch

Loops two methods for wiring three-way

and four-way switches and whether or not

a neutral wire is required for those as

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back into the content you may be

wondering how do we get a neutral wire

to the switch boox with a switch Loop

the solution we'll have to run a three

wire from the light down to the switch

boox from now on we can still run our

power to the light box but now we'll

connect our black black hot wire to the

black wire down to the switch our red

wire back up from the switch will

connect to the light fixture the neutral

and ground wires will connect as usual

but the neutral will now be going down

to the switch box as well at the light

switch box will connect our red wire and

our black wire to the light switch the

neutral wire will either be capped off

if not needed or connect it to the Smart

Switch or lighting control if that's

what we're using so is the neutral wire

required at three-way and four-way

switch boxes as well it is well kind of

I'll explain there are actually four

methods to wire three-way switches the

Chicago 3-way which has been illegal for

decades the California 3way which is not

acceptable in all areas then we have the

standard method and the dead end

three-way and I'll show you those right

now let's go to the Whiteboard okay

let's start out with the standard method

because it's the most common and the

most widely accepted way to wire

three-way switches so on the board we

have our power we have our first

three-way we'll call it switch one our

second three-way switch two and our

light our first switch will be

line because that's where the power will

come in and we'll call our second switch

leg because that'll take the switch leg

up to the light then we'll run a 122

cable from our power source to our first

three-way switch in the black wire we'll

connect to our power source and come

down and hit the black common screw on

our first three-way switch and we'll run

a second 122 from our light box to our

second three-way switch and our black

common wire will come from our light

fixture over into the common screw on

our second three-way switch then we'll

run a 123 cable between our two

three-way switches the red and the black

wires in the 123 are going to be our

Travelers so our red wire will go from

the gold screw on one switch to the gold

screw on the other traveler number one

and the black wire will go from the gold

screw on one switch to the gold screw on

the other traveler number two now our

122 wire coming down from Power all o

has a neutral wire in it now since I

can't use a white marker on a white

board we'll use a dotted line so our

neutral wire is going to come down and

go to switch boox number one but it's

not going to connect to the switch and

our neutral wire from the light

fixture is going to come

down

and it's going to be in our second

switch box but also not connect connect

to the

switch our 123 that we have going

between our two switches also has a

white wire in it so that white

wire will carry our

neutral wire between our two

switches and these are going to splice

together in our two switch

boxes like

so let me show you how this would work

let's cross these little pieces out on

our

switch so our power comes down it goes

into the first switch we'll say that the

switch is in this position right now and

it goes across the black traveler here

and we'll say that this switch is in

this position then it goes up to our

light then our current travels through

the light fixture back on our neutral

wire back to the source and the light

would be on so if we go to this first

switch and we switch it to the other

position now the power comes down goes

to the second switch but it's open here

so it can't get to the light so what if

we needed to control our lights from

more than two locations so we just stick

a four-way in the middle so we'd have a

three wire cable between three-way

number one and our four-way and a three

wire cable between three-way number two

and our

four-way so our two Travelers would

connect just like before our black tra

traveler here that would connect from

the gold screw on the three-way to the

gold screw on the fourway and our red

traveler here same thing between the

gold screw there is no black screw on

our four-way switch and then our black

here between the four-way and our other

three-way and the red between our

four-way and the other three-way and

then our neutral wire would connect in

this box as well so now the circuit

would work exactly like it did with the

three-ways but now we have a four-way in

the middle notice with this method we

have a neutral wire at every switch boox

location so we're going to be okay if we

ever want to install a switch that

requires one and we're code compliant

okay now let's look at a deadend

three-way and you'll see why we call it

a dead end three-way in just a minute we

still have our power source our two

three-way switches and our light like on

our standard 3-way we run a 122 cable

from our power source to our first

three-way we'll connect the black wire

to our power source which will connect

to the black common screw on our

three-way but this time another 122 will

come from the light fixture or the light

box to our first three-way

switch so our black wire will come down

from the

light into the switch box here but not

connect to the switch so like before

we'll have a three wire that goes

between our two three-way

switches our red

traveler will connect to the gold screw

on the first threeway and go to the gold

screw on the second one we'll jump over

this wire here and our black

traveler will come from the gold screw

on this three-way jump over that

wire and connect to the gold screw on

our other three-way but now we have to

get our switch leg from this three-way

back to this switch box to conect

connect to our light all we have left is

our white wire and the three wire that

goes between the two threeways so we'll

re identify our white wire as a hot wire

I'm going to use a blue marker in this

case but it's a white wire reidentified

so we're going to go from our black

screw and we're going to go over here

and we're not going to connect to

this making a mess here we're not going

to connect to this other switch we're

going to go up and we're going to

connect to that wire right there which

goes up to the light so then we'll have

our neutral wire coming down from the

light dotted line here we'll go right

through these same Loops

here and then

we'll jump over

that go over to the first switch

box and our neutral from our

power will come down

here over to our first switch box and

that'll those two neutral wires will

connect together in that switch box now

this works pretty much the same as our

last

three-way power will come down we'll say

it goes through the switch like that

goes across on our black

wire goes across this switch comes on

our blue wire we'll call this our

reidentified white wire goes back to

switch boox number one and then goes up

to our light

then the

neutral carries the current back from

the light back through this switch box

here and up to our power source and

completes the circuit now the reason we

call this a dead end three-way is in

this box here you can see that the

circuit cannot continue after that all

we have is switch power and there's no

neutral looking at switch boox one we do

have a neutral wire so we're good to go

here but switch to nope we have no

neutral wire over there but article 4042

in the National electrical code also

says where multiple switches control the

same lights a neutral wire is only

required at one of the switches so since

we have a neutral wire in this first

switch box this is going to be a code

compliant method some electrical

inspectors may have an issue with

reidentifying your white wire due to

size limitations in the code but I found

that most inspectors will let that go

keep that in mind though when you're

deciding on which method you're going to

use to wire your three-way switches I

want to thank you all for watching and I

want to thank ag1 for sponsoring today's

video remember to check out the link in

the description to try it out for

yourself I'll link some other content

for you to watch next right here I'm

John from backyard Maine thanks for

watching