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#1
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Light fixture installation, which wire to connect
I am trying to install a new light fixture in a new condo.
In the fixture box, I can see wire nuts covering red, white, black, blue and green wires. It is normally to the white and black. But in this case one do I wire my light fixture to? I live in Ontario. |
#2
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Light fixture installation, which wire to connect
Most likely white and one of the colors, except green. You need to connect a
test light to the white wire and each color,one at a time, to see which other wire gives you voltage when the switch is turned on, and disconnects voltage when the switch is turned off wrote in message oups.com... I am trying to install a new light fixture in a new condo. In the fixture box, I can see wire nuts covering red, white, black, blue and green wires. It is normally to the white and black. But in this case one do I wire my light fixture to? I live in Ontario. |
#4
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Light fixture installation, which wire to connect
RBM remove this wrote: Most likely white and one of the colors, except green. You need to connect a test light to the white wire and each color,one at a time, to see which other wire gives you voltage when the switch is turned on, and disconnects voltage when the switch is turned off Then it must be the red. The red is the only one with one wire, suggesting that it is intended for this light fixture. I had connected it to the red and white on another fixture. Thought I would ask just to make sure. And what are the other colors anyway - the blues and greens? |
#5
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Light fixture installation, which wire to connect
Generally the other wires, regardless of their color, are bringing that
circuit, or another circuit, to some other outlet, switch, or light wrote in message ps.com... RBM remove this wrote: Most likely white and one of the colors, except green. You need to connect a test light to the white wire and each color,one at a time, to see which other wire gives you voltage when the switch is turned on, and disconnects voltage when the switch is turned off Then it must be the red. The red is the only one with one wire, suggesting that it is intended for this light fixture. I had connected it to the red and white on another fixture. Thought I would ask just to make sure. And what are the other colors anyway - the blues and greens? |
#6
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Light fixture installation, which wire to connect
Thanks RBM
RBM remove this wrote: Generally the other wires, regardless of their color, are bringing that circuit, or another circuit, to some other outlet, switch, or light |
#7
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Light fixture installation, which wire to connect
Black, red, and blue are all possible "hot" wires. White is always neutral. Green is always ground. I'm not sure why you have a blue wire in there; it's very rare to see three hot wires in a box. Perhaps this is wired with the box always hot and a switch leg dropped down the wall, and the blue wire is for possible future installation of a ceiling fan controlled by a wall switch? Or someone has gotten fancy with the wiring and you've got two phases in that box? (you can save a wire if you're running a long run from the breaker box of two circuits by having two "hots" on opposite phases; the neutral can then safely be shared between them.) In any case, what I would do would be to simply take all the wire nuts off, and test for voltage between the black and white, then red and white, then blue and white and see which one is controlled by your wall switch. The light fixture should be wired with the black wire of the light to whichever of the three is appropriate, and white to white. If you don't have a test light or multimeter, you could simply hang the light fixture from the box with a piece of scrap wire, wire up the neutral, and touch the black wire to the various potential hot wires to see what works. Grasping the wires by the insulation, of course, not the copper... (hey, some people need to have this mentioned to them.) All of the above is ASSuming that wiring in Canuckia conforms to the same codes and standards as it does here in the YooEss. good luck, nate Thanks nate. The blues are a bunch of 3 or 4, suggesting that it is not a control wire. Does that indicate anything? Kim |
#8
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Light fixture installation, which wire to connect
wrote in message
oups.com... I am trying to install a new light fixture in a new condo. In the fixture box, I can see wire nuts covering red, white, black, blue and green wires. It is normally to the white and black. But in this case one do I wire my light fixture to? I live in Ontario. Ontario like in Canada-- or California? |
#9
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Light fixture installation, which wire to connect
wrote:
Black, red, and blue are all possible "hot" wires. White is always neutral. Green is always ground. I'm not sure why you have a blue wire in there; it's very rare to see three hot wires in a box. Perhaps this is wired with the box always hot and a switch leg dropped down the wall, and the blue wire is for possible future installation of a ceiling fan controlled by a wall switch? Or someone has gotten fancy with the wiring and you've got two phases in that box? (you can save a wire if you're running a long run from the breaker box of two circuits by having two "hots" on opposite phases; the neutral can then safely be shared between them.) In any case, what I would do would be to simply take all the wire nuts off, and test for voltage between the black and white, then red and white, then blue and white and see which one is controlled by your wall switch. The light fixture should be wired with the black wire of the light to whichever of the three is appropriate, and white to white. If you don't have a test light or multimeter, you could simply hang the light fixture from the box with a piece of scrap wire, wire up the neutral, and touch the black wire to the various potential hot wires to see what works. Grasping the wires by the insulation, of course, not the copper... (hey, some people need to have this mentioned to them.) All of the above is ASSuming that wiring in Canuckia conforms to the same codes and standards as it does here in the YooEss. good luck, nate Thanks nate. The blues are a bunch of 3 or 4, suggesting that it is not a control wire. Does that indicate anything? Kim I'm guessing this is THHN in conduit? Sounds like it is feeding another circuit in the same area from an opposite phase. Does a white wire leave the box in the same direction as the blue? Or you could just measure voltage across black and blue to see; I'm guessing you'd find 240V instead of 120V (use a multimeter or 240V bulb for this; you don't want to use a regular light bulb as a test light, it will blow almost immediately.) nate -- replace "fly" with "com" to reply. http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel |
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Light fixture installation, which wire to connect
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