How to connect a light bulb to a switch, circuits for 1,2,3,4,5 light bulbs

The article will focus on ways to connect one, two or more light bulbs in one and two-gang switches, circuits that will simplify the workflow are considered.

General scheme of electrification of premises

The general scheme of electrification of the premises can be conditionally divided into two parts – supplying consumers and providing lighting.

In the first case, everything is simple – wiring is thrown from the switchboard (if necessary, it is divided), thanks to which branches are created, and connected to sockets, through which consumers are connected to the mains.

The sockets themselves are constantly energized after connection.

In the case of organizing the lighting of a room, it is not so simple, since it is necessary to create a branch that provides for the possibility of de-energizing the lighting elements – light bulbs.

For this, switches (knife switches) are provided in the circuit, the task of which is, if necessary, to interrupt and restore the voltage supply circuit to the consumer.

For the normal functioning of lighting in the room and ensuring safety, there are certain schemes for connecting lighting fixtures through switches to the mains.

Moreover, there are several varieties of them, which allows you to organize the connection of light bulbs according to the planned layout.

For example, with just one switch, you can control the lighting of several rooms, and independently of each other.

Previously used switches that crashed into the wiring. That is, the wiring was thrown directly from the switchboard to the bulb holder, and then the phase conductor of the wire was cut in the right place, and a breaker was installed in this gap.

This method of powering lighting elements is now practically not used and the types of lamp power connections are somewhat different, but the principle is the same.

General provisions

Next, consider the most common schemes for powering the lighting elements of the room.

The features of creating such branches largely depend on the number of lamps connected to them, as well as their control with a knife switch.

But in any case, the branch you create includes:

• Switch (one-, two-, three-gang);
• Lamps with cartridges;
• Junction box;
• Wires (two- and three-core).

A little about the features of the interrupter.

Any switch has two outputs – input and output (there may be several of the latter).

Moreover, both of them belong to the same line, that is, if a phase is connected to the input terminal, then it will be at the output.

By moving the key to a certain position, the contacts of these terminals are connected or disconnected, thereby closing-opening the circuit.

Safety precautions.

Before describing the connection methods, we immediately recall the safety precautions during work.

To avoid electric shock, turn off the power supply, and take measures to prevent accidental resumption of power supply before completion of work.

Its supply should be restored only after the complete laying and connection of all the constituent elements of the branch, as well as ensuring reliable insulation of the wire junctions.

Read on the topic – is it worth using aluminum wiring.

One lamp – one switch

The simplest circuit consists of one lighting element and a single-key switch.

Theoretically, the connection does not differ from that described above – the zero core goes directly from the switchboard to the consumer, but the breaker is inserted into the phase one. But almost everything looks a little more complicated.

To connect this type, first of all, you should decide on the installation location of the junction box.

It should be installed as close as possible to the installation site of the circuit breaker and should not be easily accessible.

The number of wires required to create a branch directly depends on this. Its optimal location is under the ceiling above the knife switch.

And then everything is simple:

• We determine the location of the lighting element – the lamp (for example – in the center of the ceiling);
• We choose the installation location of the breaker (conditionally – below the junction box);
• We start the wiring coming from the switchboard into the junction box;
• We lay the wiring along the ceiling (along the possible shortest path) from the lamp holder and also put it into the box;
• It remains to lay the wire from the switch to the junction box.

For simplicity, the wire going from the shield to the box will be denoted as “input”, and from the box to the consumer – “output”.

For a circuit with a single-gang switch and one lamp, two-wire wires are used.

After laying all the wiring (open or closed), it remains only to connect everything correctly and for this it is important to determine which core is phase and which is zero.

You can find out using an indicator screwdriver by making an appropriate check on the terminals from the switchboard before turning off the power supply.

To make it clearer, let’s consider how to connect everything correctly using a different color of the wire sheath.

For example, to create a power branch of a lighting element, a wire with strands painted in brown and blue was used.

When connecting the input wire to the switchboard, the brown core was connected to the phase output, and the blue one to zero.

Knowing this, it remains only to connect everything correctly in the junction box.

Since the “zero” goes directly to the consumer, we connect the blue (zero) input core with the corresponding color of the output.

It remains to include a circuit breaker in the circuit. A two-wire wire will also be thrown from it to the junction box, but in this case it is two parts of the same line (phase).

We take the brown (phase) input core and connect it to any of the cores, for example, also with the brown one leading to the switch.

It remains only to connect the blue wire coming from the switch to the brown wire of the output.

Further, all connection points must be insulated with high quality, and only after that – check the performance of the created branch by applying voltage to it.

This we examined in detail the method of connecting one lamp to a single-gang breaker.

All subsequent schemes are built according to the described principle, so we will indicate only their key points.

Connecting a two-gang switch

The following will be a circuit in which a two-gang switch is involved.

A feature of its design is the presence of two output terminals, each of which can be connected to the input (phase) terminal independently of each other.

This allows you to create two separate branches from one lead wire, for power management of which there is a switch key.

Usually a two-gang switch is used to power two lamps, but there are situations when you need to power only one lighting element, that is, create one branch.

In this case, the connection does not differ from that described above. The only thing is to decide which key will be working and connect a phase conductor to its output terminal.

With this connection, the second key will be disabled.

Now consider the features of connecting two light bulbs to such a breaker. That is, in fact, we create two branches from one phase core.

The difference from the scheme described above comes down to the fact that we will have two outputs from the box (each for its own lamp).

That is, 4 wires should be included in the junction box – input, two output and from the switch.

Another important point is that a three-wire wire will have to be laid from the breaker to the junction box.

One of the cores will be connected to the input terminal of the switch, and the other two to the output.

Next, it remains to connect everything correctly. Here, for convenience, braid colors should also be used.

For example, the third color in a three-core cable would be green.

The connection is done like this:

• We connect the neutral wire (blue) from the input to two outputs of the corresponding color (a twist consisting of three wires should be obtained);
• We connect the input phase wire (brown) with the same color leading to the switch;
• The other two wires of the cable leading to the switch must be connected to the phase wires of the outputs. That is, the blue must be connected to the brown of one branch, and the green to the brown of the other branch.

Read on the topic: Wiring connections, how to twist wires correctly.

All this is more clearly shown in the diagram.

After connection, all twists should be insulated and only after that the performance should be checked.

Important to know: Wireless switches make it much easier to connect single-bulb ceiling lights or large chandeliers.

Other schemes

Sometimes there is a need to connect 3 light bulbs to a two-gang switch. In this case, the scheme provides that two lamps will be powered from one key, and the third from the other.

Here, the feature is not only to connect everything in the junction box, you also need to connect the light bulbs correctly.

In general, the connection diagram for three lamps does not differ from the one described above (all connections in the junction box are the same as when connecting two lamps to a two-gang switch).

The only thing is that one of the created branches will have to be divided between two lamps.

That is, each of the two cartridges will have to bring a phase and zero core. How to do this is shown in the diagram.

The same feature applies to the connection of two lamps to a single-gang breaker.

That is, the whole feature of creating a branch comes down to making a phase and zero supply to two cartridges.

It is not necessary that the lamps connected to one key be one or two. Below are several connection diagrams, implying the presence of 3-5 lamps.

The first of them is with a single-key knife switch:

The second scheme is with a two-gang switch and a large number of lamps:

Read here: How to properly install electrical wiring.

As you can see, all the schemes are similar to each other, so it should not be difficult to make lighting connections correctly. But the main thing at the same time is the observance of safety regulations.