House wiring - lights

[colsankey]

Trying to setup a new light in the dining room that is replacing a ceiling fan.

When I pulled the ceiling fan, I noticed two things, that the celing fans leads were black, blue and white. The black and blue were twisted together and electrical taped to the white lead and the white wiring on the fan was I I think connected to the red house wire.

I say I think because when I pulled the light down, the electrical tape holding things together came/was lose and the leads were not stuck together at that point.

The house wiring is a little odd too, theres a single red wire, 2 solidcore white leads twisted together and two solidcore black wires twisted together.

The new light (no fan) has a white/black wire and a multi-strand ground.

White to white and black to black turns the lights on, but the switch doesn't work, if the breakers on, so is the light, no breaker, no light.

I tried a few diffrent combinations, but everything else seemed to blow the breaker.

It was just suggested I try white(light)/red(house) and black to black, leaving the white (house) unattached

The light switch was a simple on off switch, with no dimmers or anything, it just provided a circuit to turn on the ceiling fan lights and then a pull switch on the fan was used to operate the fan when need be.

Whats the proper way to wire this?

[nonlinear]

you should first do some reading on how cieling fans are wired. usually, there is a usually a hot wire (so the fan can run when the light is off), a switched-hot (turn on/off the light), and a ground. there might be several other wires in the junction depending on if your outlets, etc. come through that box too. basically, what you want to do it cap the hot wire, and then connect your switched hot and ground to your new fixture.

ground = black, red = hot, and the white = switched hot (i would bet). what i would do is attach the black wires to ground, and then test the red and white to find out which is hot and whitch is switched hot.

[barmanjay]

Take a pic of the box with the wires please

is there only 1 switch that controls the light? or 2?

[colsankey]

I'll try and take a pic, but just 1 switch.

[barmanjay]

is it just the one light that the switch controls?

[barmanjay]

take the cover plate off the switch and pull the switch out,.. tell us what colours the wires are.

[HuMz]

Originally posted by nonlinear
you should first do some reading on how cieling fans are wired. usually, there is a usually a hot wire (so the fan can run when the light is off), a switched-hot (turn on/off the light), and a ground. there might be several other wires in the junction depending on if your outlets, etc. come through that box too. basically, what you want to do it cap the hot wire, and then connect your switched hot and ground to your new fixture.

ground = black, red = hot, and the white = switched hot (i would bet). what i would do is attach the black wires to ground, and then test the red and white to find out which is hot and whitch is switched hot.

lol this is a fire waiting to happen.

So it sounds like at the switch you have the 2 white and 2 black wires twisted together along with a single red. Your black = hot, white = id, and the switch lag is your red.

Your switch will have 3 terminals, one green one at the bottom for the ground, then 2 hot terminals on the same side. Take your black wire (hot), and your red wire (switch lag) and attach them too your 2 hot terminals, and your ground to the ground........the white wires stay spliced up in the electrical box.

Therefore you should only 2 wires at the junction box in the ceiling that connect to your light (minus the ground). The red (switch lag) connects to the black wire of the light, and white to white, the remaining black house wire just gets capped off with a marrette.

Also make sure proper marrets are used and all splices are twisted together very tight before the marret is twisted on.
And like barman said take a picture or get someone qualified to come look at it, pm your location and if its not too inconvienent ill take a quick look at it for free.

[barmanjay]

I have a sneaky suspicion this is how you should hook up your light.

white from light to the spliced whites in junction box. via larger marrett (red or yellow marrett)
2 blacks in junction box should be marretted together (orage marrett)
black from light to red in junction box (orange marrett)
green from light gets grounded (attached) to junction bow via screw at very bac of the box.

i can assume the coloured wires on your switch will be black and red. if there is a white one, it'll likely be capped with a marrett.

if the wires are white and red at the switch, then the black from the lamp goes directly to the 2 blacks and the white goes to the red.

if the wires at the switch are onlu black and white or just black, or just white, i need to see a pic of your junction box to try and guess whats going on.

HuMz: was just trying to make your post easier to read for the roockie

you are absolutely right aout nonlinears post

TO EVERYONE: house wiring: black is NOT ground. green is or the bare unsheilded copper wire that is attached to all metal boxes.

house electricity is NOT direct current, it it alternating current. if you have never worked with house wiring or have no idea - save your own life and potential fire and hire someone who knows / qualified.

[HuMz]

Originally posted by barmanjay
I have a sneaky suspicion this is how you should hook up your light.

white from light to the spliced whites in junction box. via larger marrett (red or yellow marrett)
2 blacks in junction box should be marretted together (orage marrett)
black from light to red in junction box (orange marrett)
green from light gets grounded (attached) to junction bow via screw at very bac of the box.

i can assume the coloured wires on your switch will be black and red. if there is a white one, it'll likely be capped with a marrett.

if the wires are white and red at the switch, then the black from the lamp goes directly to the 2 blacks and the white goes to the red.

if the wires at the switch are onlu black and white or just black, or just white, i need to see a pic of your junction box to try and guess whats going on.

HuMz: was just trying to make your post easier to read for the roockie

you are absolutely right aout nonlinears post

TO EVERYONE: house wiring: black is NOT ground. green is or the bare unsheilded copper wire that is attached to all metal boxes.

house electricity is NOT direct current, it it alternating current. if you have never worked with house wiring or have no idea - save your own life and potential fire and hire someone who knows / qualified.

Exactly, the only thing I can't confirm for sure is if the red wire was used at the hot and the black the switch lag(which shouldn't be the case but you never know depending on who wired it).

A basic light/'switch seems very simple in theory but if you don't know what your doing then it can lead to serious damage/injury, not too mention in the case of a fire insurance wouldn't cover it.

The fact that there was only electrical tape covering the wires to begin with is very troubling, kinda makes you worry what the rest of the wiring in the house is like.