The evil red wire


  #1  
Old 06-01-04, 11:13 AM
debbadoo
Visiting Guest
Posts: n/a
Question The evil red wire

I am trying to install a chandelier in my dining room, and it has only a black and white wire, a ground wire and that is it. The electrical box I'm connecting to has a black wire, a white wire and a red wire. What does the red wire do? What do I need to connect it to to make the wall switch work properly?

I've connected it to both the Black and White wire combos experimentally, but it blows the breaker when I turn the switch to "off". If I just nut it's end, then the fixture works, but the switch on the wall does not turn it on or off. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to where the red wire was connected when I took the old chandelier down.

Help?!
 
  #2  
Old 06-01-04, 11:32 AM
J
Member
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: United States
Posts: 17,733
Upvotes: 0
Received 1 Upvote on 1 Post
Red wires are used for a variety of purposes. If you tell us the year your house was built, we can make a better guess.

When you say that the electrical box has black, white, red and bare wires, do you mean exactly one of each and no more?

I suspect that you didn't cap off the red wire when you connected black to black and white to white.

The most likely solution is to connect black on your chandelier to red from your ceiling, white to white, bare to bare, and securely cap off the black from the ceiling. But if you are cautious, hold off on that until we learn more.
 
  #3  
Old 06-01-04, 12:06 PM
debbadoo
Visiting Guest
Posts: n/a
The house was built in 1920, but all electrical was updated in 1997. The cieling has about 3 white wires all twisted together, 3 black wires all twisted together, one single red wire, and a ground that is 3 uncoated wires all twisted together. I also don't know why there are 3 wires per Black/White/Ground, but there are, and this makes bending them back into the box difficult once nut connections have been made.

The chandeleir has a single black, a single white and a ground wire.

I have tried the following scenarios:
1. White to white, black to black, ground to ground. The light works, but the switch doesn't.
2. White and red to white, black to black, ground to ground. The light works, even with the switch off, but when turning switch to on, the breaker flips it all off.
3. Black and red to black, white to white, ground to ground. The light works, even with the switch off, but when turning switch to on, the breaker flips it all off.

I have not tried connecting just the red to either the black or white like you suggest. Maybe I need to go home and try that and come back with the outcome.
 
  #4  
Old 06-01-04, 08:05 PM
J
Member
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: United States
Posts: 17,733
Upvotes: 0
Received 1 Upvote on 1 Post
Some of the things you tried were downright dangerous. You're really lucky that you didn't accidentally find something that worked. You might have left it that way and electrocuted the next person who touched the light. These kinds of experiements are not recommended.

My previous answer was correct. Connect the red from the ceiling to the black from your chandelier. Connect the white from your chandelier to the other three whites from the ceiling. Connect the grounding wire from the chandelier to the other grounding wires in the ceiling. Do not connect anything to the black wires in the ceiling, but leave them connected to each other, and make sure they don't touch anything else.

Good luck and stay safe!
 
  #5  
Old 06-03-04, 06:29 AM
debbadoo
Visiting Guest
Posts: n/a
Exclamation

No worries Mr. Nelson-
I did it!!! Your suggestion worked.
I always do the work with the breaker/electricity off. And while I waited for your answer I had everything separated and nutted up individually for safety. I still don't understand why there are so many black wires if the red wire goes to black on the fixture. But regardless, it worked great, the switch works now, and I am alive. Weeeeeeeeee! Thanks for your help.
 
  #6  
Old 06-03-04, 10:08 AM
J
Member
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: United States
Posts: 17,733
Upvotes: 0
Received 1 Upvote on 1 Post
If you want to understand what you saw, post back and I'll explain it.
 
  #7  
Old 06-03-04, 05:09 PM
tara_quest
Visiting Guest
Posts: n/a
Originally Posted by debbadoo
No worries Mr. Nelson-
I did it!!! Your suggestion worked.
I always do the work with the breaker/electricity off. And while I waited for your answer I had everything separated and nutted up individually for safety. I still don't understand why there are so many black wires if the red wire goes to black on the fixture. But regardless, it worked great, the switch works now, and I am alive. Weeeeeeeeee! Thanks for your help.
The assorted blacks and many of the whites most likely feed outlets in your room. The red wire is switched hot, the blacks are unswitched hot, and the whites are neutral. If you wished to connect a ceiling fan, you could connect the fan motor to the blacks and it would operate independantly of the light switch.
 
  #8  
Old 05-08-12, 10:24 AM
M
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 1
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Thank you for solving the evil red wire problem!

Thank you for the question and the informative response. I could not have completed the installation of a new ceiling fixture without your advice. The red wire came as a surprise and it was difficlut to get the wires out of the ceiling and somehow I lost track of what the red wire was connected to. Thankfully I counted the wire nuts and had four so that helped to confirm that something was capped off with a nut and not combined with others. By going to the switch and looking behind I noted the red wire so realized that the new fixture needed to be attached to the red wire and I needed to cap off the bundle of black wires. Everything worke well--- the switch turns it off and on and the dimmer works well.

Thank you again for your clear explainations Mr. Nelson!
 
  #9  
Old 05-08-12, 11:29 AM
ray2047's Avatar
Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 29,711
Upvotes: 0
Received 15 Upvotes on 13 Posts
Mmcape, welcome to the forums. I am glad the forum able to answer your question however there was no need to respond to an eight year old thread. If you wish to answer current questions please do or if you have a question you can't find an answer for please start your own thread.
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: