Save for when you need it How to install a dimmer light switch Love Dad

Let me teach you how to switch out an old crappy light switch for a dimmer switch. First and foremost, make sure you turn that breaker off. I'm installing two dimmers side by side, and these can be used for both single lights and three-way switches. Four screws to remove the cover plate, then two screws each to remove the switches. I gently extend all the wires out of the box, and even though I know the breaker is off, I test to make sure there is no power. I snip the wires to the first old switch and just chuck it. The back of this box clearly shows which wire goes where, and it's important to note here that there's one extra wire that I won't need or touch. That's because it's for a three-way switch, which this is not. It's clearly marked with a tag. I strip and connect the black incoming hot wire first, twisting on the wire nut tightly. Then I strip and connect the red outgoing hot wire. So how do I tell which wire is which? Well, I know the power comes from under the house, so that's going to be the incoming hot wire, and the wire that runs up the wall to the ceiling lights must be the outgoing hot. Nothing to it. Just connect those two wires to your new dimmer switch. There is one last wire you need to connect, and that's your green ground wire. Since I have two dimmers to install, I just wait till the very last to connect both ground wires to the bare copper wire sticking out of the wall. Don't mess with the white ground wires at all. Just leave them the way you found. I'm done with the wiring, but before I attach these dimmers to the box, I want to test them out first to make sure they work. So I switch the breaker back on, try out the lights. Everything's working perfectly. With the breaker back off, I carefully tuck the wires back inside the box and loosely install the top and bottom screws of each dimmer switch. That's because I want to make sure the switches actually fit inside the holes of the cover plate. Once they're off a little bit, I can easily move them over and then tighten them down. One last thing, and this is just me. Make sure your cover plate screws are all facing straight up and down. I know. I'm a freak.