When wiring romex?
Question:I am splicing a romex line with whith black white and red (3 lines) to an existing line of white and black-what do I do with the extra red line?
Answers:
put a wire nut on it, if you are only using 120 volts.
The red conductor is for when you are connecting two separated switches to one light fixture or other similar applications. If you are looking to provide power to a switch down stream of the current source then you will connect the black and red conductors to the black connector coming from the source.
the black, white and red line romex is for 220 application. the red is the second lead. you paid extra for the 4 wire romex (4th is the un-insulated ground). you will wirenut off the red ends or use the correct 2 wire romex (to avoid confusion to the next individual who opens up the junction box.
One more point to remember is to make sure you use the same size romex as the original circuit. Cap off the red at both ends and if the original wire is 14/2 then your addition should be 14/3. Don't change sizes as somewhere down the someone else may think they have a 20 Amp circuit when it's really a 15.
Good Luck and be careful ! ! !
Romex sounds like a 14/3 or a 12/3 connect black to black and white to white
and cap off the red if it is not being used as a hot use a voltage tester to find which is hot the black or red if both are 'hot' than its a 220 line only use 1 'phase' (black) and cap the red unless what you are using needs 220 volt make sure you turn the power off before connecting any wires !!
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