On Thu, 06 Apr 2006 09:27:39 -0700, LurfysMa
wrote:

Can anyone explain to me the electrical terms "neutral", "ground",
"line", and "load"?

I have an Aube TI034 programmable light switch that I want to replace
with an Aube TI035 programmable light switch.

The info for the 034 is he

http://www.aubetech.com/products/pro...=77&noLangue=2

and for the 035, he

http://www.aubetech.com/products/pro...=78&noLangue=2

The reason I want to replace the 034 with the 035 is that the 035 can
handle up to 2400 watts, whereas the 034 can only handle up to 500
watts.

According to the manual, the 034 goes in just like a regular light
switch. I've had it in there for a couple of years and it works
perfectly.

I bought an 035 and the electrician I called to install it said that

Did you do this on the phone. Congratualations to both of you, for
being prepared and not wasting the other's time. And to him for
knowing the merchandise that he doesn't even sell probably.

Even if he had to come out, congratulations to him and maybe you for
reading the instructions and looking at the situation before starting.

he couldn't because, unlike the 034, the 035 required a "neutral" in
addition to the line and the load wires. This is an old house and
there is no neutral in that j-box.

On the web page above, it says that the connection required 3 wires
(line, load, neutral). But the installation manual (pdf file available
on that same web page), has an installation diagram showing only 2
wires: black (line) and white (neutral).

That's probably because they didn't bother to update the diagram.
Genereally, the text overrides a diagram (that is, it's more
accurate), but also more complicated often overrides less complicated.
In this case, the text is both. I'm talking about in practice. Of
course they are supposed to have both the text and the diagram right,
but often they aren't.

I am confused. Isn't "neutral" the same as "line"? I thought that
"load" is the hot wire,

The load is the light bulb or whatever. It will be easier if you
think of the line or the hot wire as the wagon, and the load as the
potatoes in the wagon.

"line" is the return (or neutral) wire, and

The line is both the hot and the neutral, but if I'm wrong or
sometimes they use it differently, it's the hot.

'ground" goes to ground.

Bingo.

Can anyone tell me if I can install an 035 where I only have 2 wires?

Do you have BX or Romex? Metal shielded cable or plastic.

Thanks