Its probably a three way switch Or if you have four wires and a ground connected it could turn on two things at once. Double pole single throw
because you are switch the hot leg, so it can be turn on an off.
A red wire switch leg is a specific wire used in electrical wiring to connect a switch to a light fixture or another electrical device. The red wire serves as the hot wire that carries electricity to the switch, allowing it to control the flow of electricity to the connected device. It is essential to follow proper electrical codes and guidelines when working with red wire switch legs to ensure safety and proper functionality.
The term switch leg really means switched leg. It is the wire that comes off of the bottom terminal of a switch and when the switch is turned on becomes hot. This is the leg that turns the load off and on.
To wire a switch leg correctly, connect the hot wire to the common terminal of the switch, the switched hot wire to the other terminal, and the neutral wire to the neutral terminal. Make sure to turn off the power before starting and follow the wiring diagram for your specific switch.
Yes, you can extend power through the 3-wire switch leg to a new switch for a new light. You would need to connect the hot wire to the common terminal on the existing switch, then extend the hot wire to the new switch, along with the traveler wire. At the new switch, connect the hot wire to the common terminal and the traveler wire to one of the traveler terminals.
This depends on the specific way your installation is wired. Most likely, though, you will not be able to just change one light fixture to an outlet. Lights that are controlled together are wired with a common hot wire called a switch leg. This switch leg is connected to the switch so that when the switch is on, the wire is hot. This lights your fixtures. To change a light fixture into an outlet, you need a constantly hot wire. This wire is connected to the light switch screw opposite the switch leg. In your situation, you probably need to run new wires to the new outlet which carry this constant hot and a neutral. Or you would have to bypass the switch (wire nut the hot and switch leg together) and install outlets at both light fixture locations. Simply stated, this is not really an easy fix but more of something for an electrician to do. ----If you do not understand the work well enough to accomplish it yourself properly and safely, don't try it. Consult a professional electrician, as they are proficient enough to do it properly and safely. When working on electrical circuits and equipment, make sure to de-energize the circuit you will be working on. Then test the circuit with a definitive means to make sure it is off (multimeter with metal tipped leads, voltage tester with metal tipped leads, etc., NOT a non-contact tester, which is not definitive.)
Yes. You have 2 wires (plus ground) coming from the previous switch in the circuit and 2 wires (plus ground) going to the next switch in the circuit. If you have a neutral, or if you have a switch leg, which would be the conductor from the last switch in the circuit to the equipment being powered, you will need 3 or 4 conductors (plus ground).
In residential wiring, if it is used as a switch leg or in 3 wire 240 volt circuits.
diagram to hook up switch leg
voltage
In North America, the use of a two pole single throw switch is used for this purpose. The reason that a two pole switch is used instead of a single pole switch is that code requires that both legs to the 240 volt load has to be broken so as to isolate the load completely from the supply voltage. If a single pole switch was used in this situation one leg of the 240 volt supply would still be "hot" to ground. Someone that is inexperienced with the system could get a nasty shock by just using the switch to isolate the circuit when working on it instead of using the supply breaker to isolate the circuit. In the UK it is a different scenario as the load across the 240 supply returns to a grounded neutral. In this case just a single pole single throw switch will isolate the circuit.
A double pole breaker has one pole attached to one side of your breaker panel's bus or hot leg, and another pole attached to another hot leg or bus, if it is in a residential panel (in the US) each leg of the breaker is 120 volts to ground or neutral and 240 hot leg to hot leg. The 15 amp indicates that the breaker will trip if the circuit exceeds 15 amps across the two outputs of the breaker.