I am trying to install a simple light but I'm having some issues. The
light has white/black/bare and the box in the ceiling (prewired before
I moved in) has red, grey, and yellow. I have a circuit tester and I
figured out that grey is hot, but I don't know which of the other two
(yellow or red) is ground. I should also mention the house is only 3
months old.

I tried to wire it this way but it didn't work:

Light fixture black -- Celing Grey
Light fixture white -- Ceiling Orange
Light fixture bare -- Ceiling Yellow

Also, there are 3 switches in the same box for the room. One controls
the ceiling light I am trying to install. One is for an outlet. And
the other is supposedly for a fan.

Can anyone help??

Can I screw anything up if I wire it wrong? Or can I just try
different combinations until it works?

wrote:

I am trying to install a simple light but I'm having some issues. The
light has white/black/bare and the box in the ceiling (prewired before
I moved in) has red, grey, and yellow. I have a circuit tester and I
figured out that grey is hot, but I don't know which of the other two
(yellow or red) is ground. I should also mention the house is only 3
months old.

I tried to wire it this way but it didn't work:

Light fixture black -- Celing Grey
Light fixture white -- Ceiling Orange
Light fixture bare -- Ceiling Yellow

Also, there are 3 switches in the same box for the room. One controls
the ceiling light I am trying to install. One is for an outlet. And
the other is supposedly for a fan.

Can anyone help??

Can I screw anything up if I wire it wrong? Or can I just try
different combinations until it works?


This is in the US?? What kind of cable did they use?
The colors are not proper according to Code, which raises
suspicion about what else they may have done...

Jim

Yes. I'm in a Chicago suburb.

wrote:

Yes. I'm in a Chicago suburb.


Sniff around some more in the bowels of the electrical work
in this new house. If you can, get an identification from
the cable sheaths used and any markings. Even take some
photos .

It's hard to imagine that any Chicago suburb would have
less than the most stringent Code requirements.

Jim

wrote:
Yes. I'm in a Chicago suburb.


Oh, and regarding the question about just hooking it up till it works,
no that isn't safe. You could hook it up so the light is connected
btwn hot and ground and the light will work, but it isn't safe.

Speedy Jim wrote:
wrote:

I am trying to install a simple light but I'm having some issues. The
light has white/black/bare and the box in the ceiling (prewired before
I moved in) has red, grey, and yellow. I have a circuit tester and I
figured out that grey is hot, but I don't know which of the other two
(yellow or red) is ground. I should also mention the house is only 3
months old.

I tried to wire it this way but it didn't work:

Light fixture black -- Celing Grey
Light fixture white -- Ceiling Orange
Light fixture bare -- Ceiling Yellow

Which is it? Orange or red?


Also, there are 3 switches in the same box for the room. One controls
the ceiling light I am trying to install. One is for an outlet. And
the other is supposedly for a fan.




This is in the US?? What kind of cable did they use?
The colors are not proper according to Code, which raises
suspicion about what else they may have done...

Jim

The colors are non-standard, but might be legal, depending
on how they're used.

Grey is approved by the NEC for "grounded" (neutral).
It shouldn't be hot. Did you check it against a (metal) water
pipe?

I don't think plain yellow is legal for safety ground,
but I think green-and-yellow *is*.
(I don't have a copy of my NEC here.)
It might be for the fan, if the switch for the fan is a
simple on/off switch.

What kind of cable is it? And what kind of box is it?

If it's armored cable, there might not be a separate ground wire,
but then you'd have to have a metal box.

If it's non-metallic (plastic cover), and the box is plastic,
there might not be any ground wire. This *might* squeak
by, if there's no exposed metal on the light.


But I would hate to be the guy that had to get this one past
the inspector. Unless I had slipped him a few big ones.[*]


Bottom line: get a real electrician to check this out. You
may have an unihabitable house there.

-- Alan McKenney
[*] In other words, a bribe. This is *Chicago* we're talking
about, right?

[line eater fodder]