You will get a reading if one wire is hot and the other isnt. However, if both wires are hot, the reading will be zero. However, if you need to rewire a light switch or a plug socket, you may occasionally come across two black wires. Its essential that you determine which black wire is hot before proceeding.

Is the hot wire positive or negative?

The positive wire, also commonly called the hot wire, will typically be black in color. It is the source of the electricity. The electrical current travels from the outlet or other power source on the positive wire, so if it is plugged in anywhere, it should be considered a live (and dangerous) wire.

Can you connect 2 black wires together?

Just go ahead and connect the new dimmer the same way. This is the typical way to connect a switch. The 2 blacks connected are power in, power out to the next switch in the circuit.

Is black or white live wire?

The protective ground is green or green with yellow stripe. The neutral is white, the hot (live or active) single phase wires are black , and red in the case of a second active.

Is black wire hot or neutral?

Black wires are “hot” wires, which means they carry a live current from your electrical panel to the destination. They feed electricity to electrical outlets, switches and appliances from the homes main power supply.

Can you pigtail black wires?

When making a pigtail, choose a scrap of wire with insulation that is the same color as the circuit wires you are connecting: white pigtails when connecting to neutral wires, red or black when connecting to hot wires, green or bare copper when connecting to grounding wires.

Why is the black wire not hot?

By convention, the white wire is neutral, the black wire is hot, and a green or bare wire is ground. But the first rule is there are no rules. So if you see lots of different colors in an electrical box, you probably need to call an electrician. But if you see three or four colors, you can probably figure it out.

Can an outlet have 2 hot wires?

The reason for multiple hot/neutral wires for one outlet is that the outlets are daisy-chained together. This means hot/neutral is only coming from one of the wires and it is being sent to the other wire.