Bathroom light box has two black and two white???
#1
10-26-08, 12:23 PM
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Bathroom light box has two black and two white???
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I have a bathroom light fixture with two black and two white, and a ground. The box has two white and two back. I did not take a picture of wha the old wire looked like, and yes I now want to kill myself....
SO, we tried to hook up the light fixture by putting ALL blacks together, and all White together. That made the breaker trip. So, then we tried to hook up one white to one white, and then another white to a white, same with the black. The ground was always hooked up. That didnt work. Nothing.
We found with the meter, that one of the blacks from the box is hot, while the other black in not. Im guessing because one goes to the switch?
We also tried to take all the wire from the light fixture and hook it up to one set of wires from the box. That turned the light on, but we could not turn if off with the switch.
I dont know what to do. [/COLOR][/FONT]
#2
10-26-08, 12:37 PM
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You might be dealing with a switch loop at the switch. You would need to confirm this be telling the number and colors of wires connected to the switch.
If you have a black and a white connected to your switch you will need to find the end of that cable at the fixture box and we can go from there.
If you have a black and a white connected to your switch you will need to find the end of that cable at the fixture box and we can go from there.
#6
10-26-08, 02:15 PM
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Yes, there are 2 ends to a switch loop, one at the switch, the other at the fixture.
The black that is hot will splice to the white in the other cable. The fixture white will connect to the white from the power cable, the fixture black will connect to the black from the other cable. All ground spliced together and to the fixture.
The white spliced to the black should be re-indentified with a color other than white or green, like black, red, or blue. Tape of magic marker is fine.
The black that is hot will splice to the white in the other cable. The fixture white will connect to the white from the power cable, the fixture black will connect to the black from the other cable. All ground spliced together and to the fixture.
The white spliced to the black should be re-indentified with a color other than white or green, like black, red, or blue. Tape of magic marker is fine.
#7
10-26-08, 02:27 PM
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Originally Posted by pcboss
Yes, there are 2 ends to a switch loop, one at the switch, the other at the fixture.
The black that is hot will splice to the white in the other cable. The fixture white will connect to the white from the power cable, the fixture black will connect to the black from the other cable. All ground spliced together and to the fixture.
The white spliced to the black should be re-indentified with a color other than white or green, like black, red, or blue. Tape of magic marker is fine.
The black that is hot will splice to the white in the other cable. The fixture white will connect to the white from the power cable, the fixture black will connect to the black from the other cable. All ground spliced together and to the fixture.
The white spliced to the black should be re-indentified with a color other than white or green, like black, red, or blue. Tape of magic marker is fine.
#9
10-26-08, 02:57 PM
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I dont think my ground from the fixture in attached to the ground screw, just to the other copper ground wires that go to the ground screw.
Could this have caused the spark?
Could this have caused the spark?
#10
10-26-08, 03:13 PM
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The way your ground is connected should not have effected this. Take the fixture down and check the quality of the connections. Look to see if you can see where the arc occurred.
