I had a ceiling fan with a light fixture in my dining room which could be turned on & off using the wall switch. I found a light fixture/chandelier I would like to replace the fan with, but once I pulled down the fan, I found I had more wires than on my new one. This made sense since it was a fan & a light, but now I'm not sure how to connect my new light.

Coming from the ceiling junction box are a black wire, a red wire, a white wire & the ground wire. When I tried installing the lamp, I could get it to light, but it couldn't be turned on & off with the switch. Can someone tell me how I should connect the wires?:confused:

One of the wires in the ceiling, either the black or the red is hot all the time. The other is hot only when the switch is on. You didn't say which (black or red) you connected the chandelier to. If you connected to the red, reverse and connect to the black. If you connected the chandelier to the black reverse and connect to the red. Cap the unused wire with a wire nut.

I did connect to to the black. I will try the red. Thanks so much for your help!

Okay, I tried connecting to the red wire but the light wouldn't come on at all when we turned the breaker back on. Any other insights?

Go back and check all connections. The white of the chandelier to the white of the ceiling box, the black of the chandelier to the red of the ceiling box. Confirm that you only have one black, one red, and one white, and a ground in the ceiling box. If you find no bad connections, pull the switch and tell me what's there.

My light actually doesn't have colored wires. It has a wire that looks like one for a plug on a table lamp. (A friend had it in his dining room and gave it to me when he remodeled.) One side of the wire has writing imprinted on it and the other is blank.

Also (and I probably should've mentioned it sooner), when I pulled down the fan, there are actually two white & two black wires that were twisted together (white to white & black to black). The ground wire & the red wire were singles.

OK, the light will work no matter which wire is connected to the white and which wire is connected to the black (red). Is the switch by any chance a dimmer switch?

Yes, it is. I made sure that it was turned on. Do you think that's my problem?

It is not dimmed is it?

Nope. Tried turning it to make sure it wasn't just dimmed.

OK, check wire connections. Right now I'm thinking that you have a poor connection that resulted when you switched to red wire.

In the ceiling or the switch?

My help left for the evening. I'll give it a shot tomorrow afternoon to see if it works.

OK, also confirm that you have only one black, one red and one white in ceiling, no other wires (not counting ground).

There are two white wires twisted together and two black wires twisted together. There is only one red wire.

Ok. You will have to pull the switch and tell me what wires are connected to the switch.

Try bypassing the dimmer switch in case it shorted during the exchange.