Help! Woman with just enough electrical experience to be dangerous here.

Halogen ceiling fixture stopped working. No response at all at the switch.
Changed bulbs. Not that.
Checked switch. Has one white wire on right, two blacks on left. Black top and white always test hot. Black bottom and white test hot or cold depending on switch position, so I assumed it was working right.

Took down the light fixture. It was wired white to white, black to black. Depending on wall switch position, black and ground are hot, white and ground are not.

Replaced light fixture with another.

Still no light.

What am I doing wrong??

Thank you for reading this!
Joan

A little difficult to follow you here:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by postergirl1

Checked switch. Has one white wire on right, two blacks on left. Black top and white always test hot. Black bottom and white test hot or cold depending on switch position, so I assumed it was working right.

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What I am getting is there are three wire, each connected to a separate terminal on the switch. This sounds like a 3 way switch, which means there is another switch that also controls this light.

Does the switch have "ON" and "OFF" stamped on the handle? If not, it is a 3 way.

Look for the other switch. 3 way switches are used when a room or space has two entries. If there are more than two switches, now you have two 3 way switches and a 4 way switch at each other entrance.

Don't ask about the switch names, it is what we call them in the trade.

If you are using a tester at the one switch you do know you have, don't test across the terminals on the switch to test for power. Test across each terminal and ground.

So, what do you have? One switch with ON and Off on the handle? Or multiple switches controlling this light? Any one of the multiple switches may be defective or have a loose connection.

Need to know more detail to help you from here.

Thank you for trying!
There is no ground wire on the switch in question.
No on or off markings either. It is one of those oblong rocker type switches..

It is possible there is another switch that goes to this light... I have a wall full of them that I don't know what they go too.

The house was built in the 60's. I am the new (and now money deficient) owner.

Thanks again. I will be happy to try anything you suggest.

Joan

Just one small thing. 1. Has this light ever worked? 2. Check voltage at the wires coming out of the ceiling at the light itself. If the light has never worked for you, this switch might not even go to that light.

Id check at the LIGHT. Again just a small suggestion.

Mike

Thanks Mike,

Yes, the odd thing is, the light did work until about a week ago. It was wired white to white, black to black and green to ground.
It is one of those halogen track fixtures.
I replaced it with a similar fixture.
When that didn't work, I used a plain light fixture. I wired it exactly the same. Nothing.
I don't have a voltage tester, just the cheap tester with 2 wires and a tiny light bulb, but it indicates that there is power at the ceiling that goes off and on with the switch. Go figure.
I thought I was a pretty logical person, but I can't figure this one out:)
Joan

Humm I would think if you have power at the light in the ceiling, then it can only be the fixture or the wiring is wrong. BUT, like you said you only have the 3 most common wires in a circuit. Maybe, the light is bad? The one plain light you tried, was that bulb good?

I know dumb question but, if you have power in the ceiling, then it really can only be something wrong with the fixture. Seems like you have it wired up correcty and you said the ceiling box has power from the blk wire. SOOOO other than that I don't see why its not working. At least the plain fixture should be coming on...

Maybe I need to try the Holiday Inn. I might have better luck ;)

Could it be that there is not enough power at the fixture?

Don't worry about it, I am giving up and calling an electrician. What's a little more savings out the window anyway?

I guess you get what you pay for when you buy an older home, but I really love this one.
Thanks again for trying-
Joan

Well hope he can figure it out. Doesn't make much sense to me. Post back, Like to know what it is he found out about this one..

Mike

I'll let you know what he comes up with. I have to get it working by Saturday night; it's my father's 80th birthday, and the light fixture is over my dining room table...
Have a great week-
J

The electrician is here.
He tested the switch and the wires hanging from the ceiling, pronounced everything okay, put up the light fixture... and it didn't work.

Put up another light fixture. Same thing.

Checked all the switches again.

Then found that even though there was 110 volts up there, there was a bad joint in the attic. He fixed the connection in the attic and voila- I have light!!

Worth every dime.

Thank you Mike, for trying to help me. I never would have known what to do in the attic...

Have a wonderful week-
Joan

Bad joint? Well least you have light. Most important patr! hahah