Ask Me Help Desk

Ask Me Help Desk (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/forum.php)
-   Electrical & Lighting (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=105)
-   -   Red wire from ceiling light fixture (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=593989)

  • Aug 22, 2011, 11:22 AM
    Poppy55
    Red wire from ceiling light fixture
    I removed a ceiling fan and now installing a light fixture. The new light fixture has two white, two black wires, and the green/ground. The ceiling has one black, one white, one ground, and one evil red wire.

    I connected the whites to whites, black to blacks, and grounded the green. Capped the red. Light works but will not shut off with switch.

    Where should the red wire attach? This shouldn't be so hard to figure out.

    Help, please? Thanks!
  • Aug 22, 2011, 01:45 PM
    donf
    Okay, for starts, you have inadvertently wired the switch out of the circuit.

    Since you had a fan with a light package I'm pretty sure that a three wire switch loop was run to the switches.

    You were correct in capping off the red wire, it is not needed.

    Lets start at the beginning. First, look at the ceiling wiring. There is most likley a source cable (Black/White/bare copper) coming into the box.

    There should be a (Black/Red/White/bare copper) cable leaving the box in the general direction of the switches.

    If that is correct, then do as follows:

    1) Turn the breaker off.
    2) Disconnect all of the wires in the ceiling box and pair them up. Keep the fixture wires together.

    The Source cable and the switch cables should also be isolated up.

    3) At the switches, remove the faceplate and then pull the switches out from the box. In theory, you will find the white wire coming in and jumpers from the white wire to the bottom screws of each switch. One switch will have the top wire red and the other will be black.

    4) Disconnect the switch with the red wire and remove the jumper wires.

    5) With the one remaining switch, connect the white wire to the bottom of the switch with the black wire on top. Replace this switch into the box and purchase a faceplate that has blank on one side and has a hole for one switch.

    6) Back at the ceiling, connect the white from the switch to the black from the source. Place tape or use a sharpie to mark the wire to any color other than gray, white or green. Do the same to the white wire on the switch.

    7) Now the white wires from the fixture will connect to the white wire from the source and the black wire from the switch to the black wires from the fixture.

    Turn the breaker back on and then test the operation of the switch.
  • Aug 22, 2011, 02:45 PM
    hkstroud
    If you connected the two blacks from the light to the black from the ceiling and the light won't turn off, connect the blacks from the light to the red from the ceiling and cap the black.
  • Aug 22, 2011, 05:59 PM
    jerro
    I assume you had a ceiling fan /light combination that you took down and your switch only turned the light off but not the fan when it was on at the same time. If this is the case then they used the black as a constant hot wire to the fan and could only be turned off by the pull chain. They used the red wire to the light and turned it on and off by the switch.Just do what HKStroud said to do and it should work on the switch.
  • Aug 22, 2011, 06:29 PM
    donf
    Okay, I guess I'm not reading the posts properly.

    In this post the electrician installed two wall switches and the poster has removed the fan. He is installing a light fixture, not a fan and light combination.

  • All times are GMT -7. The time now is 05:41 AM.