Hi Everyone...

I have a question that I hope someone could help me out.

I have a wall switch with a black and red wire attached

I removed a light fan fixture that had a red, black, white, and ground wire... I am replacing the fan light fixture with just a light fixture.

My dilemma is light fixture has a white, black and ground wire.... White to white, Black to Black, Ground to ground....
Now I have a RED wire that I originally capped.
When I turn power on light remains on when wall switch is on or off...
When I attach the red wire to the black wires... The same happens light stays on when wall switch is on or off.

Does anyone know how to fix this?? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks... Tom J

 

You need to expose all the wire ends and measure each interdependently to the white.
It sounds like you have the black live and non-switched.
Measurement will tell you all.!
Max.

 

I have a live RED and Black wire.

RED wire is off when switch is off. RED is LIVE 121v when switch is on.
Hooked the RED to the black(on light) and the switch controls the light.
Capping the LIVE black wire and taping it up.

Thanks for your help.

 

Red, white and black wires are used when one light is controlled by a switch at the top of the stairs and the same light is controlled by another switch at the bottom of the stairs. Look at the 3-way wiring in Google.

 

Red, white and black wires are used when one light is controlled by a switch at the top of the stairs and the same light is controlled by another switch at the bottom of the stairs.

Not in this case. It's separate power for the fan and light fixture. Normally you would use two switches to control.
SG

 

In our area the code demands that the feed co to the ceiling box first so that a fan is not controlled by the light switch. In your case the feed went first to the switch box but was then carried to the ceiling box as the black wire. So, as you eventually discovered, the black was the constant feed and the red was the switched feed, which is a standard connection arrangement. Looking into the switch box you will find that the black that goes to the switch is tied also to the black feed and the black going up to the ceiling box. That is a standard good practice, to join the black wires in a wire nut and not on the switch.

 

The solution may be found in the junction box switch on the wall. My first thought was that the light was controlled independently from the fan by separate switches on the wall. My bathroom has a triple switch in a single box. One switch controls the exhaust fan, one controls the vanity lights and the last controls the overhead light. To be honest I hate those huge switch boxes with three full size switches. I'm wondering if someone before you may have had a multi-switch in place to control the light and fan independently. Someone replaced it and didn't follow proper wiring codes. To fully sort this out you need to isolate the main feed to that circuit and then go from there.

My living room outlets have both red and black wires. The black wires are always hot and the red wire is only hot when the switch on the wall is turned on. I have two outlets that have upper and lower plugs separated from each other. So I can plug something in to the lower plug and have it on all the time and can plug in floor lamps or hanging lamps - or whatever and control it from the wall switch. MY dilemma with this is that it's all 12 gauge wire and that's a lot of copper to stuff into a single gang box.

 

MY dilemma with this is that it's all 12 gauge wire and that's a lot of copper to stuff into a single gang box.

Metal or plastic box? They make extra deep boxes in both, And for metal they make box extensions, basically an open ended box the screws to the front of a single gang box.

 

Metal or plastic box? They make extra deep boxes in both, And for metal they make box extensions, basically an open ended box the screws to the front of a single gang box.

Try replacing an installed box that is in a decent looking standard construction plastered wall and you will understand that not only is it a big deal project, but that making it look even decent after the replacement is a very large task.

 

Try replacing an installed box that is in a decent looking standard construction plastered wall and you will understand that not only is it a big deal project, but that making it look even decent after the replacement is a very large task.

Never said it was easy.

 

Metal or plastic box?

Metal boxes. From 1964. Original house wiring. My dilemma with it was that this house is not grounded properly and a previous owner decided to put three wire outlets in. Meaning the ground pins were just there for space and nothing else. I had to run in a ground wire on many boxes. Not all of them were near water pipes either. Was a hassle, but it's done 13 years now. So I'm not going back in the boxes unless absolutely necessary.

Back on topic - - - I suspect the red and black wires were probably original wiring. Whatever may have changed may have been changed at an access point such as the switch box itself. That's why I think the solution to the TS question may be found in that box on the wall.

 

Metal boxes. From 1964. Original house wiring. My dilemma with it was that this house is not grounded properly and a previous owner decided to put three wire outlets in. Meaning the ground pins were just there for space and nothing else. I had to run in a ground wire on many boxes. Not all of them were near water pipes either. Was a hassle, but it's done 13 years now. So I'm not going back in the boxes unless absolutely necessary.

Back on topic - - - I suspect the red and black wires were probably original wiring. Whatever may have changed may have been changed at an access point such as the switch box itself. That's why I think the solution to the TS question may be found in that box on the wall.

In post #3 the TS describes the solution that was found and implemented, which was done exactly the way it should have been done.

 

In post #3 the TS describes the solution that was found and implemented

Yup! Sure did. Sorry, I missed that part. I saw black and red both being hot. I assumed it was unstitched. I failed to read the entire post. I do that sometimes.

So problem solved in post #3. Why are we now 10 posts beyond that? Seems I'm not the only one to miss it.

 

So problem solved in post #3. Why are we now 10 posts beyond that? Seems I'm not the only one to miss it

Because we have answered the light bulb resistance problem?