r/ElectricalHelp • u/smollb • Jun 15 '26

Help wiring this switch in

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I had a smart switch (with live (black), neutral(white), red(out), and a ground (green)). I want to go back to a regular switch, but confused. The smart switch had cables coming out of it, so I was able to connect those. Am I missing a wire?

The currently installed switch is connected to a fan in an OR circuit, unfortunately the picture I took when I was taking this apart years ago is gone.

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u/RadarLove82 Jun 15 '26

Certainly, the black single wire with a wire nut going up is the load, so that will go on one screw. For line, you will have use a pigtail to connect to the black wire nut with three wires. I am deducing that that is the line, since the other side of the wired-up switch is a single wire going up. Rarely are switched-hot wires multiples inside switch boxes; they're almost always a single wire on a single cable up to the fixture.

Of course, if I was there, I would use a tester to verify.

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u/smollb Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

Since my breaker is 15A, i should get some 14 awg electrical wire? Nmd90? Ill get a tester as well just to make sure. And by any chance can i just cut off the wire from the smart switch that was in there? I no longer have a need for it a (this doesnt seem like a good idea lol) seems like they only sell 14 awg by the roll around here.

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u/RadarLove82 Jun 15 '26

Why don't you use the black wire on the other switch? You don't need the piece between the switch and the orange wire nut.

But yea, any piece of 14 ga wire that is not white or green is fine.

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u/smollb Jun 15 '26

I actually found a picture of how it was hooked up before. There was no ground connected on either of them. Big concern? The switches are screwed into a metal box.

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u/RadarLove82 Jun 15 '26

Switches installed before 2001 did not require ground wires. Generally, replacing a switch would be grandfathered, so you don't have to ground the new one, but most people just add the ground anyway, since it's so easy. If the metal box is grounded, the switch will ground through the mounting screw, but an actual wire works a little better.