I'm trying to wire a new ceiling light. When I open the box in the ceiling there are 5 red wires connected with a wire nut and 5 white connected with a wire nut. There are also one purple wire and one yellow wire. The yellow and purple seem to correspond to the switch in the wall. How do I know which wires to use?

 

If there is an existing light there,hook it up the same way the existing light is hooked up.

 

no existing light.

 

Do you want the light controlled by the existing switch and if so,what does it control now?What color and how many are present at the switch now?

 

Yes, I want to use the existing wall switch.

The switch has 3 controls.
1. Controls an outlet in the wall (red)
2. One is wired to red and purple
3. One is wire with red and yellow.

 

What is meant by" The switch has 3 controls"?
One what is "Wired to red and purple"?
What is meant by"One is wire with red and yellow''?

You will have to be a little more clearer in your descriptions.

 

In the room there is a wall plate with 3 switches. I know that one switch controls a wall outlet. There are two other switches in the plate. Wired to one has a red wire and a yellow wire. The other has a red wire and a purple wire.

In the connection box in the ceiling there is a single purple wire and a single yellow wire neither of them is connected to anything. Also in the connection box is a group of 5 red wires all connected and a group of 5 white wires all connected. This connection box has not been connected to anything so far. It is supposed to be connected to a ceiling fan. Since I don't have the fan yet, I want to connect a light.

 

One might tend to think that the purple wire in the ceiling and he purple wire at the switch are connected. And since the setup looks similar one might assume that the switch with the yellow wire would have something to do with the yellow wire in the ceiling. Thats why there are 2 switches that do nothing so far, one for a fan and one for a light. You will have to add a pigtail from the cluster of whites. 5 is really enough in one connection and maybe Sparky has a better suggestion on how to get a white one from that.

 

Thank you,that was much clearer

The light fixture (black) may be be hooked up to either the yellow or purple wire depending on which switch that youwant to control the light.The white wire from the fixture will connect to the other white wires in the box.The ground wire should tie into the ground wires in the box(if any are there)or to the box itself via a #10 screw in the back of the box.

Good luck!

 

Thank you. Do I have to connect the black from the light and the purple to the cluster of red? When I tried just the purple to black and white to white the light did not work?

 

The red wire that goes to the switches should be 1 of the 5 red wires that are all connected together.(can you verify this)The light fixture should only have to connect to the purple and the 5 white wires present in the box.

 

I will retry your suggestion. Thanks. Sounds like it should work.

 

I can't thank you enough! It worked. It's a piece of cake when you know what your doing.

Thanks!!!!