Bathroom light fixtures installation -- circuit breaker TRIPPED
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Bathroom light fixtures installation -- circuit breaker TRIPPED
I recently replaced my bathroom light fixture. I'm not sure what'd I done wrong, but the circuit breaker tripped as soon as I turned on the light. Pls let me explain: coming out of the wall, there are white wire, black wire, and a red wire; though there is NO ground (bare copper) wire. I connected the white wire to the white wires on the new fixture, the black wire to the black wires, and the red wire to the ground wire on the light fixture (I think this red wire caused the breaker to trip). Then I tried another approach by leaving just the black & white wires connected, disconnected the red wire (on the wall) from the ground copper (on the fixture). Turned it on,the light worked, circuit breaker did not trip, but then I could NOT turn off the light using the switch anymore . Please advise, I'd really appreciate your help.
Best regards,
Declan
Best regards,
Declan
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My limited experience says that black and red could both be live (black to light, red to fan) but black and red could also be wires connected to a three-way switch. After seeing what was done to the wiring at my house, it could be any other combination.
What were the wires connected to in the old fixture? What wires are connected to the switch? Have you used a circuit tester to see what wires are hot?
What were the wires connected to in the old fixture? What wires are connected to the switch? Have you used a circuit tester to see what wires are hot?
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What's connected at the switch? Red is usually an additional hot, I'm thinking it's the one which is switched at the wall.
#4
Red is never ground. You probably created a dead short. Guessing red is ground is scary and indicates you don't know the basics. Here we often recommend the book Wiring Simplified available in the electrical aisle of major home stores or on line from book sellers such as Amazon.com.