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Art Todesco Art Todesco is offline
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Default How Is This Switch Wired?



Terry wrote:
On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:38:35 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

In article om, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Nov 6, 11:09 am, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article . com,
wrote:
If there is only one romex coming into the box, that is out of the
ordinary. You should have at least 2 romex, with one being the feed,
other going to LF1. Could also be other romex that tap off feed at
that point, etc.
No, that's perfectly normal -- it's called a switch leg. Power feed comes into
the box at the light fixture, and is tied to the white wire of the switch leg,
which goes to one side of the switch. The black wire of the switch leg goes to
the other side of the switch, and to the black fixture wire.
Agreed...I have no problem with the way the LF1 is switched.

But, Doug...of all people ;-) you didn't comment on why only LF2 is on
with the switch off.

That's because I'm still trying to figure it out!!
Any thoughts?

My first thought is that something there is *not* as it was described to you.


With the swtich open the two lights are in series. With the switch
closed L2 is shorted.

And to add to that, the CFL lamp is a
lower wattage than the incandescent.
As they are in series, most of the
voltage will be across the CFL, so it
will light.
Also, there are peculiarities of both
lamps, i.e. the incandescent lamp has a
very low resistance when not lit and the
CFL, having electronics in it, can do
weird things. But, this seems perfectly
normal for the abnormal wiring.