Most dimmers are rated for 600 watts of power consumption so if you have several light fixtures which will be controlled by the 3 way dimmer switch you will need to count the number of fixtures the number of lamps per fixture and the watts per lamp. Care should be taken in selecting your dimmer switch.
Dimmer Switch Wiring Electrical 101
Dimmer light switch diagram. A device like this should only be used with an incandescent light fixture. The central element in this switching circuit is a triode alternating current switch or triac. The dimmer switch will have stranded wires that must be sliced to the solid cable wiring in a pigtail fashion. With a three way dimmer you can control a light with two switches. You will need a three way dimmer and a three way switch. If only one switch controls the light purchase a single pole dimmer.
This lets you dim from one location and turn the lights on and off from another. In the last section we saw that a dimmer switch rapidly turns a light circuit on and off to reduce the energy flowing to a light switch. A triac is a small semiconductor device similar to a diode or transistor. If the light can be switched on and off from two or more switches buy a three way dimmer switch. Dimmer switch wiring diagram. But you wont be able to dim the lights from every switch location unless you buy a set of special dimmers with advanced electronics and install one at each switch location.
With a standard single pole dimmer a single switch controls the light. In the diagram below a 2 wire nm cable supplies power from the panel to the dimmer boxthe black line wire connects to the common terminal of the 3 way dimmera 3 wire nm connects the travelers of the dimmer to the travelers of the 3 way switchtraveler wires are interchangeable on each switch. Like a transistor a triac is made up of different layers of semiconductor material. A rheostat or dimmer makes it possible to vary the current flowing to a light fixture thereby varying the intensity of the light.
Gallery of Dimmer Light Switch Diagram
