Which is the ground wire on a lightolier slider dimmer? White, black, or red?

SOURCE: Have a Leviton dimmer with red, black and green

You are correct in assuming green is the ground and connects to bare copper wire. Black is always the HOT wire and should be attached to the black wire. Red wire connects to white wire.

SOURCE: i have a black wire a white wire and a ground

The red wire is your chase wire and needs to go all the way to the other switch

SOURCE: Ok I am installing a dimmer to replace a switch I

I suggest contacting Lutron's tech support center at 1-800-523-9466. They're available 24/7 and can help you out.

Having said that, can I assume that the red, white and black are all coming from the same romex? If so, the trick to doing this properly is to understand how the 3-way switch at the other location is wired up. In other words, of the red, white, and black wires... only TWO of those wires are connected to the other 3-way switch (I'm assuming this is a 3-way circuit given that you bought a 3-way product). Once you've identified the color of those two wires, on the dimmer, attach each of those two wires to one of the red wires coming out of the dimmer. The remaining wire coming out of the wall (red, white, or black) should then connect to the black wire coming out of the dimmer.

SOURCE: I am replacing a two

The best thing you can do in that situation is match the wire colors of the dimmer to the colors of the screw terminals on the switch you removed. Unfortunately, its too late for that - so here's my best guess: One of the black wires in the box will be coming from the same romex cable as the red wire. Take THAT black box wire and connect it to one of the red wires on the dimmer. Take the red box wire and connect it to the remaining red wire on the dimmer. Connect the black dimmer wire to the remaining black wire in the box. The two white connectors in the box get tied together - they don't get tied to the dimmer. And the ground (green) wire on the dimmer just connects to the bare ground connection in the box itself - or to the metal backbox - or cut it off and don't use it.

SOURCE: Installing a Lightolier 600VA general inductive dimmer switch.

Hi James, I'm an electrician and can help you with this problem.

From what you describe, the wiring in the switch box is for a standard, single pole switch or dimmer, and is not compatible with this replacement switch. Here's why: you stated that there are (2) wires in the box, a black and white insulated wire, that once fed a dimmer switch. Common wiring practices would suggest to most electricians that the white wire is the 120 volt "hot" supply and the black is the switched leg - or output of the switch to the fixture.

The replacement inductive dimmer switch is not a standard switch. It is designed to control inductive loads - or motors such as a fan. It does not simply control the flow of current - but actually uses a small amount of electricity to do this. This means it needs a complete 120 volt circuit consisting of a neutral and hot wire; and wire for the output of the switch to the motor. A total of insulated 3 wires. You have only two.

If you have a neutral in the box, you can use the switch if wire like this:

120 volt "hot" to the switch Black
120 volt "neutral" to the switch White
120 volt load wire (to motor) to the switch Red
The switch Yellow should be taped or capped off and is used only in a three way application.

The "arm switch" cuts power and the wheel is used to set low speed setting. You can see the info sheet here.

As mentioned above, this switch is used to control a motor - not a light. The same way a dimmer is used to control a light - not a motor. If you do not have access to a neutral in the box, you should either install one or, use a different switch. There are motor speed control switches that do not require a neutral wire and cost under $25.

If you need to control both light and fan there are products that are installed in the canopy of a paddle fan that will do this for under $50 and are operated via a wireless remote that can be secured to the wall such as those below:







These can be found at Home Depot, Lowes, and electrical supply stores.

I hope this was helpful & good luck!