I have a new house, I bought a Hampton Bay track lighting. I want to connect track lighting to wall switch. The wall switch has two switches, one controls a outlet, the other is suppose to control ceiling light fixture, which is where I am putting track lighting. The track lighting has one black wire, one green wire, and one white wire. The box on ceiling has 3 white wires connected, and 3 black wires connected separately. The ceiling also has two wires capped off, one orange, the other yellow. When I connect the white wire from lighting, to the white wire on ceiling, doing also with the black wire, it works! But the dimmer I bought, ( that I was told goes with the lighting fixture) when connected black with hot, white with neutral, and green with gound, it doesn't work. When I first removed light switch, for the first time, a orange wire was connected to neutral on switch, and yellow to ground. I tried other combinations white from ceiling to neutral on switch, still doesn't turn light dimm or off and on. need some help.

 

Normal switches do not have a neutral connection. Only switches that have a built in light or have some other need for a neutral have a connection for one. A normal switch has two connections. A hot wire goes to one connection and the other connection is for the switched output.

Put the original switch back in. Do not add the dimmer until you have the lights working with a regular toggle switch.

The orange wire to one side of the switch is your clue. I assume that the other connection to the switch was a black wire?

At the ceiling connect the orange wire to the black wire for the lights. Connect the white wires to the white wire for the light.

As for grounds, everything must be grounded if a ground exists.

Ground wires whould not be yellow. Ground wires should be green or bare.

Make the connections above. without conecting the green ground wire from the switch. This should get the light working. We will work on the ground later.

What makes you believe that the yellow wire is a ground wire? At the switch end, where is the yellow wire connected? Are there any bare or green wires at the switch end or at the ceiling end that are connected to anything?

 

are these lights controlable from more than one wall switch. If so, the orange and yellow might be travelers on a 3 way switch wiring.

 

I tried to put the original switch back but again nothing happen. At the ceiling fixture, there is only orange and yellow, and the 3 black wires are connected, and the 3 white wires are connected. The switch had a orange wire connected at bottom and a black wire looped to the top of switch, the other yellow was plugged to the ground of the switch.

 

there isn't any green wires going to the switch, just orange, yellow and black. tried to connect orange to white didn't work, only the black and the white, from ceiling to black and white to lighting.But unable to control with switch.

 

Look very carefully at the switch. Is it a 3 way switch?

Does it have the words "OFF" and "ON" printed on the switch? Are any the screws that the wires connect to green? Do any of the screws terminals have words next to them? What color are the screws themselves? Do any of the screws connect to the metal portions of the switch, specifically the top and bottom supports?

You need to answer our questions so that we can help you.

I am thinking that the wiring is made for a ceiling fan light combination. and that the orange wire and the yellow wire are for switched hot to the ceiling outlet.

Do you have any king of tester that we can use to test the wires to determine which wires are hot?

 

I don't know if the orange and the yellow from ceiling are travelers on a 3 way, there never was any light there before, just ceiling wiring. If so what do I do?

 

the orginal switch has no markings on them, otherthan on and off. no colored screws, but there is another switch next to it controlling a outlet. all three wires black yellow and orange went to the original switch.

 

If the switch has on and off marking then it is not a 3 way switch.

Does one of the screws connect to the metal case of the switch? Are the screws isolated from the metal on the switch?

How are all the wires in the switch box connected? Be specific. Where do they come from (which cable) and where do they connect? Describe all wires, regardless of whether they connect to this switch the other switch, or any other wires.

DiD you try what I suggested, connecting the track lights to the orange and white wires, and connecting the switch to the black and orange wires (as it originally was)?

 

no green wires exist from switch or ceiling wiring.

 

this is one connection

 

great!! the original switch works when I connected the orange wiring to the black, and the white to white, black to black from ceiling lighting. But when I tried the dimmer with the same setup, nothing happen.

 

no ground is setup to either lighting or switch.

 

Look at the dimmer. Is there any documentation with the dimmer switch?

How many screw terninals or wires are onthe dimmer? What colors are the wires or the screws? Are the wires or screws identified in any way?

 

Many of Hampton Bays Tracks are low voltage. and Hampton bay utilizes an Electronic transformer. You should have gotten a dimmer that is designed for use with an electronic transformer. All dimmers (with the exception of one really expensive one) that are UL listed for use with ELV require nuetral connections.

You control wiring sounds a bit confusing. But it sounds (correct me if I am wrong) that the dimmer you bought has a black wire, white wire, yellow wire, and green wire. If this is correct. The white on the dimmer goes to your nuetral. Black on the dimmer goes to your hot. Yellow on the dimmer goes to the wire that is going up to your light fixture and is connected to black on the fixture. and green goes to bare copper or a green wire. I read that you thought that your ground is yellow? I would be careful of that because I did not think that was allowed.