200.7(c)(2)

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kb8713

kb8713

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This has been a long standing debate in my mind. I understand the white conductor has to be reidentified in a switch loop. Is the code requiring the white conductor to only be used as the power to a switch or can the black conductor be used as the power to the switch and the white conductor be used as the return.:confused:
 
It seems to me to be worded as to allow the re-identified conductor to be power to the switch, only.
 
How about on a three way switch? Can the travelers be red/ white or do they have to be black/red with the white remarked as power to the switch?
Thanks for the help:smile:
 
IvSenRoute,

I agree with you, but cannot locate the exact section in NEC.

I should open my eyes, because
there it is right in the Handbook, 200.7.
Must be marked, and understandably so.

Now, the question is
"where does NEC state that the white wire cannot be used to feed the load?"

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For a dead ended 3-way switch I would use the red/white as travelers and the black as the switch leg. Black wire, black screw.
 
Rob,

Thanks.

I did read the remainder of 200.7 and found what I was looking for.

Assuming a white and a black to a switch, as a single pole 'Switch Loop'.
Then, the white (remarked) wire must feed the switch,
and the white (remarked) wire must NOT feed the load.

This came up today when I was checking a helper's joints,
and I noticed the wrong wire was hot.
Good thing I was checking with a ticker, and not grabbing it with my fingers.
...

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Dennis,
I think he means that the white wire is Re-Marked at both ends,
and no longer considered a white wire.
That would make a white (Re-Marked) going to the switch,
and a black going to the load.

I came across one of these today,
because someone wired it Black to switch and White to Load,
without any marking.
Good thing I was checking with my ticker.
I remade the joints and marked both ends of the white.

...
 
infinity said:
For a dead ended 3-way switch I would use the red/white as travelers and the black as the switch leg. Black wire, black screw.
Click to expand...
Not I. I always feed the farthes switch with the white, and use the red and black as travelers, and that leaves the black return to the load.

It's always a bad idea to have two white wires feeding a switched load.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
So with the identified wire as a white wire you would end up with two white wires at the light-- one identified black. I never wired it that way.
Click to expand...
Not what he meant. Years ago, we were taught that the grouneded and/or neutral conductor was referred to as the identified conductor. That has nothing to do with re-identifying conductor color today.

It could be by being colored white, or in the case of lamp cord, the ribbed conductor. Sometimes, threads are mixed in with the strands. The thread colors could identify the manufacturer, as well as some other info.
 
Even back in apprenticeship...


Down on white,

Back on black.
 
Larry,

200.7 takes care of itself.

I agree with your practical comment:
"two white wires feeding a switched load" .

Even when remarked black, it is confusing.

...
 
Larry,

"I guess the logic is to keep using the black as hot
until you run out of black wires."

Ha!

Reminds me of the time the orange wires went to the first motor,
and the yellow wires went to the second motor,
and the brown wires went to the third motor.

...
 
Dennis Alwon said:
jwelectric said:
Just a few years back the "identified" wire was the white wire
Click to expand...
So with the identified wire as a white wire you would end up with two white wires at the light-- one identified black. I never wired it that way.
Click to expand...

Nope, the colored wires such as black red blue pink purple and so on and so forth were unidentified conductors and only the white was called an indentified conductor
 
jwelectric said:
Nope, the colored wires such as black red blue pink purple and so on and so forth were unidentified conductors and only the white was called an indentified conductor
Click to expand...

Mea cupa. I was thinking you were referring to the point wire not the identified wire. Why I thought that? I don't know---:smile:
 
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