kitchen light nightmare

Sorry for the length of this message, and if posting here may be inappropriate. But I hope someone can help me. Thanks.

Background:

The light bulbs on my kitchen fan kept blowing, one by one, and eventually none worked, not even those that I KNOW didn't blow. (I had tested them elsewhere, and they worked fine.) At one point I remember pulling on that thin rope that operates the light fixture, and it came right out. It appeared to me that I couldn't "reattach" the rope and so I decided to replace the switch. But before doing that I tested the power at the dimmer switch, and it appeared that the dimmer switch went out, which may have explained the "good" bulbs not working.

So, I replace the light fixture switch. It's a small black switch with two leads. I am pretty sure that I reassambled the fan/lights everything EXACTLY in the reverse order in which I disassembled it. It was pretty straight forward because all the white leads were congregated in one wire connector and all the black leads in the other wire connector. (Question: does it matter if I had reversed the connection of the two leads on the switch that I replaced?)

Then I replaced the dimmer switch (single pole) and connect the three leads coming out of the wall in the EXACT same way in which they were connected to the old dimmer switch. The lights in my kitchen worked, but the lights that lead to the basement and the garage lights DIDN'T work. They are obviously operated by different switches, but they are in the same circuit, apparently. There was no power at these other locations. I checked all the breakers, and they are fine; however, kitchen, basement and garage all use the same circuit breaker.

The leads coming out of the wall in the kitchen are all the same color, so I didn't know what's what (though I could have determined that with a volt-meter, but I wouldn't know how to interpret the results, other than there is juice or there isn't). So I tried all six combinations (i.e. three leads going to three different terminals in the switch).

PROBLEM: Depending on the combination in which I make my connections, I get (1) no lights anywhere, (2) lights only in the kitchen; or (3) lights only in the basement/garage but kitchen switch must be on.

When I remove the switch altogether, I get the same thing if I connect these three leads to each other, leaving one not connected.

I am not sure if I explained my self correctly. Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.

Regards,

Elena Sofia Ricci

Reply to
Elena Sofia Ricci
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Elena: what have you gotten yourself into ? };-) seems to me you should get a qualified electrician to solve this for you.,

I am good at troubleshooting these types of Problems but first I have to ask where is the switch to the basement located ?

Try connecting the Live Wire at the switch box to the wire that feeds the basement lights then splice a pigtail (a seperate piece of wire to the 2 above wires with a wirenut) attach it then to the switch for the Kitchen light/fan., If you don't have a live wire ( with juice :-) at the switch box then the fan/light box in the ceiling must have a loose wire.

In short: 2 of the 3 wires you mentioned go together and the other one is for your kitchen light/fan.

Roy ~ E.E.Technician Bx., NY USA

Reply to
Roy Q.T.

Please, get a qualified electrician or a friend who understands basic electricity to fix the problems before you burn your place down. Improperly wired circuits are very dangerous for your own health as well as a fire hazard. Furthermore, they will void your insurance if if there is a problem. If you want to learn electricity, learn it from safe, low voltage battery circuits first before tackling house wiring. The color coding of the wires all means something and they should not be mixed up. Switches have to go in series with their loads on the hot side, back wires. Never will all of the black wires be connected together except when there are no switches and circuits are deliberately paralleled. What you have described requires someone to look at, in person to decipher. For your own safety I would not attempt to do this over the internet. Bob

Reply to
Bob Eldred

eventually

(Question:

connected to

connect these

Youre in luck. Misconnecting lighting wires is one thing you can do without causing a danger, _provided_ you dont connect anything you shouldnt to the earth/ground wires. And obviously, that you work with power off, dont leave anything live hanging out etc.

I think if you understand how these things are normally wired, things will become clearer. Colors will depend what country youre in.

One 3 core cable will come from the CU/fusebox, bringing power, L N and E. One cable will leave taking power to other fittings on the circuit One cable will go to the light switch. In Britain, live and switched live are carried on the red and black cores, theyre not live and neutral.

NT

Reply to
bigcat

Elena tell us what you've resolved.

If you want to get the full scope of rewiring wall switches you can go to your local library there are usually several books on Household Wiring and there are tons of them in book stores everywhere, if you have a Home Depot nearby you can pick one up there too.

The idea is one shouldn't have to get a person with a PHD or Ntional Certification in Electricity to change a switch or an outlet unless you are well off and would rather have someone do it for you or the wiring is So Intrinsic and confusing you need a Pro. The average home owner changes swicthes, lamp fixtures and receptacles themselves.

I think all you did is cool except the wires at the switchbox, where you have your dimmer., [Reversing the wires on a switch is not a big deal as ong as you switch the Hot or Line Side]

The only thing you could have done wrong is disconnect the feed to the basement which by what you've described is the same feeding the kitchen light through your dimmer/switch.Connect the hot lead to the basement light wire at that box, then that combination> to the dimmer/switch >

then the kitchen light lead to the other terminal on the dimmer.

That's all folks, let me know if you still have a problem with this.

Roy

Reply to
Roy Q.T.

That's what I ended up doing, thanks to more guidance that I received from a qualified individual. Thanks for your help.

| | Roy ~ E.E.Technician | Bx., NY USA |

Reply to
Elena Sofia Ricci

The problem is resolved, and I did seek help from a qualified individual. Thanks for your words of wisdom. Caution cannot be overstated. |

Reply to
Elena Sofia Ricci

Thanks for your help!

Reply to
Elena Sofia Ricci

You have to do this with the power on.

1) Leave the white wire on the dimmer connected to the rest of the white wires and forget about the whites. They are complete. Leave the dimmer hanging by the white wire with nothing else connected.

2) With all the other black wires open and out of the box without touching each other take a tester and find the hot wire.

3) Touch the other wires to the hot one at a time.

4) When the light that the dimmer was on comes on mark this.

5) The rest of the wires and one side of the dimmer will go all together.

6) The light will go to the other side of the dimmer all by it self.

Elena Sofia Ricci wrote:

eventually

(Question:

connected to

connect these

Reply to
Kilowatt

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