non-auto electrical question

[swooopeno]

Ok, for the purpose of this exercise, please 'pretend' we are in a 4runner (It's actually in my house, but i'm trying to make it exciting!)

Suppose this 4runner has 120V wiring.

There are 2 switches (S1, S2), and 3 light receptacles (L1, L2, L3)

S1 operates L1 (exterior porch light)

S2 operates L2, L3 (exterior garage lights)

I changed out the fixtures, and I keep blowing a fuse (i don't remember how it was hooked up)

It seems as though all 3 L's are on the same power loop.

I have L2 and L3 working fine, it is L1 I am having problems with.

Inside of L1 is the following:

1- ground
1- red wire
2 - black (tied together)
2- white (tied together)

Inside of L2 is the following:

1-ground
2 - black
2 - white

Inside of L3, is the last leg of the loop w/ 1 black and 1 white

So, on L1, which wires do I connect to the light fixture.
the light fixture has a black and a white, but I think it can go either way (whats that called.. bi-directional???)

I took a semester of electrical engineering, but i averaged 26% on all of my tests... ANy of you A students out there???? PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[cpguy33]

Black = Hot
White = Neutral

Try taking off the cover plate to the switch (s1) and see if the red wire is connected to it. Should be two wires connected to the switch, black and red. If this is so then connect the red wire to the light's black wire, and then white to white, ground to ground.

 

[GatorGreg]

I took a semester of electrical engineering, but i averaged 26% on all of my tests...

That's a pretty good average if the tests were multiple choice

 

[ToolmanJohn]

why is there a red wire?

For household wiring I understand black is the hot 120VAC, and the white is the neutral return. The bare copper wire is ground, it's almost NEVER a green wire in house wiring.

So my question is what kind of switch is it? Is it a dimmer switch? The only time I see wires that are different from black,white, and bare copper, are when installing light fixtures, usually flourescent or ceiling fan contols. Then there is sometimes more wires, but there are always directions for them .

Always match the colors of light fixtures, black to black and white to white. This is because sometimes the white also serves as the fixture body ground. If you were to attatch the incoming (hot) black wire to the white on the fixture, you could have a situation where you have energized the housing, very bad, very dangerous. You could get shocked changing a bulb. Worse yet is if it's a flourescent lamp fixture in an aluminum hung ceiling. Previous owner of my house did his own wiring in the finished basement. The dumba$$ put the black hot wire to the white neutral on one light, and the whole ceiling grid was hot. I got shocked trying to work on a plumbing pipe above the ceiling!!! SOB, was I ever pissed!! Took me a half hour to hunt it down and fix it, he even broke the circuit at the wall switch using the white neutral instead of the black hot, leaving power at the lights when they were off!!

Household wiring is not low voltage like an automobile, be careful please!!

 

[swooopeno]

thanks for the help everyone,

It is a regular typical switch.

FYI - hooking it up to black and white doesn't work, I think thats where the red wire comes in..

I'll give it a shot (using red and white wire after I look at the switch)

I recall checking the potential between the red and white and it was 0V, the only potential of 120V was between black and red.... which confused me even more. I will see what I can do tonight, and get an update on here in the morning.

Thanks again

 

[Fro-Runner]

Man, you're going to mess around a burn down your dang house. Go check out an electrical forum or try your local home depot for an inside wiring diagram.

 

[rando]

with compression, you might not be able to see this too well. Here's what your system might look like.