I think this is something I should know but my brain is on strike today - so I hope someone can help.

At the light switch I have two cables coming in. . one cable has a red, black, white and ground and the other is onlye white, black and ground. at the ceiling outlet I have the same. However, my track lighting has only black, white and ground and my light switch has two posts and ground. How do I do this? Where do the red wires go?

Thanks

 

The setup at your switch usually means one of three things:[list=1][*]The switch is controlling half of a duplex receptacle, with the other half continuously hot.[*]The setup is prewired for a ceiling fan, with separate controls of the light and fan.[*]This is a 3-way switch and there is one or more other switches also controlling the same thing.[/list=1]From your description, it does not sound like you have the first situation. But can you help me decide which of the other two situations you are likely to have.

One big clue is if you tell us which wires are currently connected to the switch. If the switch only has two black wires and a ground connection, then what is the red wire connected to, if anything?

If the red wire is not connected to anything at the switch box, then it's just there for future use, and you can ignore it at the ceiling too.

When you said that at the ceiling you have "the same", do you mean that the ceiling also has two cables, one with a red and one without a red?

 

John.

The switch that was on there was this big clunky switch with a white plastic box around a coil of some kind. The whole thing would get hot and recently began to smell of burnt plastic. It was hooked up like this - the two grounds were together, but not connected to the switch, the two whites were together - but not connected to the switch. There was a red pigtailed to the switch and all the blacks together and pigtailed to the switch.

The ceiling box does have the same set up - two cables - one with four wires - one with three. The fan that I took down was connected with all the whites together and pigtailed to the fan, all the ground together and pigtailed to the fan, all the blacks together and pigtailed to the fan and the single red was connected to a blue wire coming out of the fan.

The first way I hooked it up was to cap the red at the ceiling box, and hook the rest up like normal (whites to white, blacks to black, grounds to ground. . . ) And I left the switch the way I found it except I pigtailed in the ground. When I turned the breaker on the light came on but the switch didn't turn it on or off - it just was permanently on. So . . I left the ceiling alone and disconnected and capped the red at the switch and pigtailed out of the white and into the switch. When I turned the breaker on the light switch was OFF but the light was on - when I turned the switch to ON the breaker blew and I haven't been able to reset it since! Even with everything disconnected and hanging loose.

My plan was to see which was the main power cable to the switch and then go from there but now I can't get any juice at all. I have a new breaker to put in but do you think it is that? The guy at the Home Center said he didn't think it was the breaker. If you get a chance to respond any advice is welcome. Thanks so much!!! Happy Holidays!

 

Oh, this is situation #2. You didn't mention the fan before.

The fan was formerly wired such that the fan was always hot and controlled by the pull chain. The light was controlled by the wall switch.

First, put the switch wiring back the way it was.

Now connect the two black wires at the ceiling, but do not connect them to the light. Connect the red wire in the ceiling to the black from the light. Connect the two white wires from the ceiling to the white from the light.

If this doesn't work, you may have permanently damaged the switch or the breaker and one or the other or both will need replacement. It can be quite dangerous to both you and your house to guess at electrical solutions. The worst case is when you guess a solution that accidentally works, but is quite unsafe. Not everything that works is safe. Be careful.

If the above connections don't work, try replacing the switch first before replacing the breaker (which can be a quite dangerous job and should not be attempted by an unqualified person).

 

Thanks John - I am with you on the "don't change the breaker yourself" And I tend to jump in before I think so I appreciate the concern over guessing electrical wiring.

My biggest concern at this point is that the breaker is shot cause I can't turn it back on with nothing connected. I guess the friendly neighborhood electrician will be visiting.

 

Just because a breaker will not turn back on does not mean the breaker is bad or broken.

If this breaker tripped due to a short of overload then your tripper did its job. Then in order to wake up that breaker to get it to do its job again and turn on the curcuit you will have to turn the breaker hard to the off position then turn the breaker back on. A breaker that has been tripped must be reset to the off position before it will turn back on normally.

Good Luck

Wg

 

I did have the electrician out today and he figured it out and explained how to do it. Turns out the breaker was fine, but the main power line for the circuit goes through the light I was having trouble with. I had the light completely disconnected and was flipping the breaker but the light switch and all the outlets were dead (because the light/circuit wasn't connected in the ceiling) I never thought to check the power there. I think that is what John Nelson was talking about in his previous post but I was already afraid that I messed things up so I just waited for the electrician to come. He (the electrician) was great - explained how to fix the whole thing and explained how to fix another issue in the other bedroom. But he explained how - I - could do it instead of the tight lipped servicemen I have talked to before that held on the facts like government secrets.

Thanks to both of you for responding to my post!!