Under those conditions a black wire should be always hot and always on. But in a passage set switch you might see red or white being used for a potentially live wire or the installer might just have made a mistake.
Can I Put Two Red Wires Together With A Black Wire In Ceiling
Which wire is switched black or white. The white wire goes to the white metal screws on an electrical outlet. The hot wire in a 120 volt residential ac circuit usually is coated with black insulation while the return or neutral wire is white. Typically this is indicated with a band of black or red electrical tape but other colors may be used wrapped around the wires insulation. In north america the rule is that in single phase household wiring normal outlets black is live and white is neutral. The white wire is the neutral and all other colors are hot. When a white wire is augmented with a red or black color marking this often indicates that it is being used as a hot wire rather than a neutral wire.
They may use other colors for switch wiring such as yellow or tan. The power source or feeder wire is a 2 wire cable with a ground meaning it has one black hot wire one white neutral wire and a bare copper ground wire. Typically the circuit would be wired like this b black w white at light switch. In a 110 volt setup an additional wire usually red or blue normally indicates a hot wire controlled by a light switch. The black hot wire from the feeder cable is connected to the common terminal on the first switch. Orange wires frequently are used to interlink smoke detectors.
Neutral wires do not connect to switches. Black is hot white is neutral but it always pays to test. How to wire a switch with white black and ground wires. The ground wire goes to the green screw. When you connect an outlet or light switch the black wire goes to the brass screws. Electricians often use black red or blue wires to deliver electricity to a circuit from the main panel.