Can I borrow a neutral from another light?

Switches Wiring Discussion
, , , , ,
1

I’ll try my best to explain and use some modified diagrams.

I recently moved into a new house and will be upgrading all of the switches in the house to Inovelli Red Series Switches and Dimmers (as soon as they ship) with GE Add on switches for 3-4 way switches. The garage is from the 1960s, but the rest of the house was rebuilt in 2000. For all areas not related to the garage, there is a neutral in the box and I’ll be good.

In the garage, there are not neutrals in the box. However, in some of the 2+ gang switch boxes, there is a mix of new and old lighing circuits.

The image below is an example of what some of these look like. The purple rectangle represents a 2 gang box.

2 gang Before
2 gang Before2107×497 282 KB

For the light that does not have a neutral to the switches, can I “borrow” the neutral from the light that does have a neutral? It would look something like this: where I run the blue wire in the diagram and then use the black traveler as a neutral.

2 gang After
2 gang After1997×486 353 KB

Will this work?
Is this “allowed”?

2

It is, but only if both circuits are fed from the same breaker.

You don’t need a neutral for a dimmer + aux switch combination. You can use the live to the aux switch in place of the neutral.

3

Thanks. I could use a dimmer, but was hoping to use a switch instead. Additionally, there are low wattage LEDs on the light fixture so I’d prefer to use a neutral if I can.

4

From what I’ve seen, there is a good chance that low wattage LEDs connected to a switch will cause the LEDs to glow when off. Just warning you, you might need a bypass for a switch anyways.

5

Is your garage finished? If not, replace the two wire from the switch to light with a three wire and carry the neutral over.

6

It’s finished