Brilliant Wiring A Switch Leg

It is the wire that comes off of the bottom terminal of a switch and when the switch is turned on becomes hot.

Wiring a switch leg. The factory tab that connects the top hot terminal screw with the bottom hot terminal screw is removed. Notice that these outlets have the tab removed from the hot side or brass side of the outlet which allows the top half of the plug to be controlled only from the switch while the bottom end of the outlet remains hot all the time. This is common when multiple switches in one wiring box control different outlets on the same branch circuit.

This shows wiring a light switch when the power comes into the light outlet first. The switch leg is still made up of two wires but the hot wire connects directly to the switch and the two wires connect directly to the outlet. The easiest wiring of a light switch you can do is with a single pole standard light switch.

Whether you re wiring a spst toggle switch or spdt toggle switch we ll show you how. Only the top half of the receptacle is switched on and off by a wall switch. The diagram below shows the power entering the circuit at the grounded outlet box location then sending power up to the switch and a switched leg back down to the outlet.

Only the hot tab is removed not the neutral tab. Electrical current is sometimes delivered to the switching point. Power is feed to the receptacle with a 14 2 and a 14 2 switch leg is run to the switch.

The bottom outlet is hot all the time. Strip the ends of the wiring that will lead to the fixture or device that needs to be powered. This is the leg that turns the load off.

The second wire completes the circuit by connecting to the house neutral wire in the switch wiring box instead of in the outlet wiring box. Learn how to wire a toggle switch in just a couple minutes. Strip the ends so that they are about 3 4 inch long.