Light Fixture Wiring?!
September 15, 2013 8:38 AM Subscribe
I bought a light fixture yesterday at Ikea and I was all like YEAH THIS IS GOING TO BE SO EASY. Ha. Can you help me not die?
First. Yes, I turned off all power to the house at the breaker.
The light fixture has three wires coming from it. Live, Neutral, and Ground.
The ceiling has this.
First mistake was not looking more closely at how the old fixture was wired up. In my zeal I just kind of tore it out and threw it aside.
So - basically - how do I connect these up?
Based on my Googlin', it seems like the white (or, slightly yellowed) are Neutral, so I would twist these together with the Neutral from my light fixture, aye?
There appears to be no ground - so I guess I just connect the ground wire from the fixture to the grounding pole on the fixture mount.
That leaves the question of the red/black. I think possibly I just cap the blacks together and shove them out of the way, and then connect red to live? Does that seem possibly correct? Or does it depend on how the switch on the other side of the room is wired? Any advice is appreciated!
Thanks!
First. Yes, I turned off all power to the house at the breaker.
The light fixture has three wires coming from it. Live, Neutral, and Ground.
The ceiling has this.
First mistake was not looking more closely at how the old fixture was wired up. In my zeal I just kind of tore it out and threw it aside.
So - basically - how do I connect these up?
Based on my Googlin', it seems like the white (or, slightly yellowed) are Neutral, so I would twist these together with the Neutral from my light fixture, aye?
There appears to be no ground - so I guess I just connect the ground wire from the fixture to the grounding pole on the fixture mount.
That leaves the question of the red/black. I think possibly I just cap the blacks together and shove them out of the way, and then connect red to live? Does that seem possibly correct? Or does it depend on how the switch on the other side of the room is wired? Any advice is appreciated!
Thanks!
That wiring configuration seems a bit odd. Is there any sign that a ceiling fan was once mounted there?
posted by Juffo-Wup at 8:52 AM on September 15, 2013
posted by Juffo-Wup at 8:52 AM on September 15, 2013
I’m going to answer this half assed since no one with proper knowledge has yet.
I also think the red is for a ceiling fan. I’d cap that off. I don’t know what you know about house wiring, but the white are neutral and the black are hot, which is confusing to many because your appliances will sometimes have a red and black, red being hot and black neutral.
So the whites go together to the neutral on the fixture, the blacks go together to the hot on the fixture, the red gets capped off. I’d do some searching to confirm that, but I believe it’s correct.
posted by bongo_x at 9:05 AM on September 15, 2013
I also think the red is for a ceiling fan. I’d cap that off. I don’t know what you know about house wiring, but the white are neutral and the black are hot, which is confusing to many because your appliances will sometimes have a red and black, red being hot and black neutral.
So the whites go together to the neutral on the fixture, the blacks go together to the hot on the fixture, the red gets capped off. I’d do some searching to confirm that, but I believe it’s correct.
posted by bongo_x at 9:05 AM on September 15, 2013
I am not an electrician, I am not your electrician.
This could be a switch loop run with 3 wire cable, but with a missing pigtail on the yellow (white). The lamp would go across a pigtail to white and hot red, with the blacks connected only to each other.
Call an electrician. Amateur electricians cause a shocking number of house fires every year.
posted by tumble at 9:19 AM on September 15, 2013
This could be a switch loop run with 3 wire cable, but with a missing pigtail on the yellow (white). The lamp would go across a pigtail to white and hot red, with the blacks connected only to each other.
Call an electrician. Amateur electricians cause a shocking number of house fires every year.
posted by tumble at 9:19 AM on September 15, 2013
While we're here and talking about IKEA lighting - many of their fixtures and lamps are not UL certified. They haven't been tested for safety by a third party, and I would not use them in my house. Check your fixture, if it's not UL certified, return it. Again, house fires are devastating.
posted by tumble at 9:29 AM on September 15, 2013
posted by tumble at 9:29 AM on September 15, 2013
Response by poster: Is your light on a three-way switch?
I don't... I don't think so? Unless that means something I don't understand. Just a binary, regular-old light switch.
While we're here and talking about IKEA lighting - many of their fixtures and lamps are not UL certified. They haven't been tested for safety by a third party, and I would not use them in my house. Check your fixture, if it's not UL certified, return it. Again, house fires are devastating.
Thanks. I checked this fixture and it does appear to be UL certified, but that's a good warning. I did not know that.
This could be a switch loop run with 3 wire cable, but with a missing pigtail on the yellow (white). The lamp would go across a pigtail to white and hot red, with the blacks connected only to each other.
Call an electrician. Amateur electricians cause a shocking number of house fires every year.
Fine. While I am irritated at the prospect of paying $75 I don't have to install a light fixture, I am more irritated by the prospect of my house burning to the ground because I wired something up like an idiot because I don't know what I'm doing, so I guess the electrician wins this round.
Stupid safety for my family and my possessions.
I capped those wires and turned the power back on and I shall brood for the rest of the day about not having my fancy new fixture in the kitchen.
posted by kbanas at 9:43 AM on September 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
I don't... I don't think so? Unless that means something I don't understand. Just a binary, regular-old light switch.
While we're here and talking about IKEA lighting - many of their fixtures and lamps are not UL certified. They haven't been tested for safety by a third party, and I would not use them in my house. Check your fixture, if it's not UL certified, return it. Again, house fires are devastating.
Thanks. I checked this fixture and it does appear to be UL certified, but that's a good warning. I did not know that.
This could be a switch loop run with 3 wire cable, but with a missing pigtail on the yellow (white). The lamp would go across a pigtail to white and hot red, with the blacks connected only to each other.
Call an electrician. Amateur electricians cause a shocking number of house fires every year.
Fine. While I am irritated at the prospect of paying $75 I don't have to install a light fixture, I am more irritated by the prospect of my house burning to the ground because I wired something up like an idiot because I don't know what I'm doing, so I guess the electrician wins this round.
Stupid safety for my family and my possessions.
I capped those wires and turned the power back on and I shall brood for the rest of the day about not having my fancy new fixture in the kitchen.
posted by kbanas at 9:43 AM on September 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: What you describe is a likely guess of how this connects together (power from you panel is coming into your ceiling box on a black and a red down to the switch box on a black and white and then back to the cieling box on the switched red) though you'll need a meter to be sure. However the first thing to do is pull the switch out of the wall and see how many wires you have in that box and how they are connected together. Basically you are looking to see what wires in the switch box are connected to the switch and what wires are just connected together.
posted by Mitheral at 9:46 AM on September 15, 2013
posted by Mitheral at 9:46 AM on September 15, 2013
Best answer: I like Mitheral's suggestion to check at the switch. I'd guess there's a black and a red wire there, which is consistent with your notion to tie the two black wires together.
My only hesitation in telling you that you should tie the who're writes with the white write from the fixture, the red wire to the black wire from the fixture, and the two black wires together is that there's no reason you should have had to disconnect the two black writes if they weren't tied to anything in the old fixture.
posted by straw at 10:17 AM on September 15, 2013
My only hesitation in telling you that you should tie the who're writes with the white write from the fixture, the red wire to the black wire from the fixture, and the two black wires together is that there's no reason you should have had to disconnect the two black writes if they weren't tied to anything in the old fixture.
posted by straw at 10:17 AM on September 15, 2013
Response by poster: is that there's no reason you should have had to disconnect the two black writes if they weren't tied to anything in the old fixture.
The more I think back on it, I think I was in a, "I'm just going to pull it all out and re-wire everything from the ground up even though I have no idea what I'm doing" frame of mind.
But the more I think on it, the more I am certain that those two blacks were tied together and shoved up into the box, which case you and Mitheral are correct.
posted by kbanas at 10:20 AM on September 15, 2013
The more I think back on it, I think I was in a, "I'm just going to pull it all out and re-wire everything from the ground up even though I have no idea what I'm doing" frame of mind.
But the more I think on it, the more I am certain that those two blacks were tied together and shoved up into the box, which case you and Mitheral are correct.
posted by kbanas at 10:20 AM on September 15, 2013
Response by poster: Also, I checked the switch - there's a red wire and black wire coming out of it.
posted by kbanas at 10:25 AM on September 15, 2013
posted by kbanas at 10:25 AM on September 15, 2013
Best answer: Yep. I'm pretty confident now. Green to the box. All 3 white wires together. Two box blacks back together. Red to the fixture black.
posted by straw at 11:00 AM on September 15, 2013
posted by straw at 11:00 AM on September 15, 2013
Response by poster: I wish to thank you all for your assistance today!
I had to go back to Ikea once (STUPID HORRIBLE PROPRIETARY IKEA LIGHT BULBS) but I wired that bad boy up, held my breath, flipped the switch, and there it was. Light! Light.
I believe my Vine from yesterday is apt.
posted by kbanas at 2:28 PM on September 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
I had to go back to Ikea once (STUPID HORRIBLE PROPRIETARY IKEA LIGHT BULBS) but I wired that bad boy up, held my breath, flipped the switch, and there it was. Light! Light.
I believe my Vine from yesterday is apt.
posted by kbanas at 2:28 PM on September 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by kbanas at 8:40 AM on September 15, 2013