I am having a problem hooking lights back up in my bathroom, I unhooked them to paint and now I can't get them to hook back up again correctly. They are two dimmer lights one on the left of our bathroom mirror and one on the right, on the right side there are two separate white wires and two black wires that are connected together and on the left side there is one white wire and one black wire, when I hook them up they will light up even with the switch in the off position and they won't switch off or dim (basically the switch does nothing and I didn't take it apart or anything so I know it is still hooked up correctly, everything was working fine before I took the lights down to paint and now no matter what I do I can't get them to work right again. Can someone please tell me how to hook these lights up correctly so I can get them working normally again? Thank you in advance for your help!

I forgot to mention that there are two wires on the back of each light. Thanks again!

You most likely have a switch loop that you have bypassed. Check to see if one or more white wires have black tape on them. Do you have a voltage tester?

Thank you! None of the white wires have black tape on them, I don't have a voltage tester but I could one. What would I need to check for and how would I fix it if that is the problem?

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Originally Posted by Jrs77

Thank you! None of the white wires have black tape on them, I don't have a voltage tester but I could one. What would I need to check for and how would I fix it if that is the problem?

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First, look to see if the wall switch has a white wire. Typically, power goes through the switch to the light. However, the switch loop is used to bring power to the switch from the ceiling. You would need to find where the hot supply is-in the switch box or ceiling. If the.ceiling wire is hot, and you have a white wire on the switch, you have a switch loop. Tell us what you find and get back. Unfortunately, we can't see what you have so you need to help us. In the fixture box you would expect 2 cables, each with a black, white and ground and the light wires. Yes?

Sorry for taking so long to reply, it has been a busy week. First off I have determined that the hot supply is the ceiling wire. In the switch box there are two white wires connected together and four black wires, two of each of these black wires are connected together. On the back of each fixture are two wires and in the wall on the right side there are two white wires, one black and a metal ground wire, on the left there is one white wire, one black wire and a metal ground wire. Thank you again for your help let me know if there is any other info you need.