HELP please: Replacing Lampholder fixture

I am replacing a pull chain lampholder fixture in my basement that's in the ceiling. Next to that fixture is an electrical outlet (w/4 electrical plugs). Coming from the electrical outlet is a white and black wire that comes into the same junction box as the ceiling fixutre. So I removed the old fixture. I now have hooked up the new fixture - white wires to silver screw, and red wire to brass screw. Put a light bulb in and now the new fixture works. However, the electrical outlets do not. I have the black and white wires from the electrical outlet twisted together and then put one of those plastic cap things on it. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I can't get the electrical outlet to work. If anyone has any advice, it would be very much appreciated. Many thanks.

Reply to
PawsForThought
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Well, almost certainly the black and white shouldn't be connected together and since doing so didn't create spitz'ensparkzen, apparently, you must have disconnected the power feed into the outlet box from the light fixture.

You don't say where the red wire came from, and apparently this isn't switched or there wouldn't have been a chain pull, and there really is a lot lacking in info.

But, one of the black (or red, maybe, if it was a three-wire cable, or is that on the fixture?) has to be a supply "hot" and the white in the same cable is the neutral (again, assuming "normal" 2-wire w/ or w/o ground romex cable). The feed could be from either the outlet or to the light first, that's indeterminate but best guess would be since nothing bad happened when you tied what should be a hot and neutral together it came to the light first, then on to the outlet from there. What is needed is a feedthrough from whichever direction the feed is to the other. But, if you don't have a switch in the circuit, then the light is going to be always on.

My real advice is to either find somebody who knows enough to look at the situation and do it or an electrician. The connecting of the black and white together indicates a real lack of understanding. I'd recommend in the interim to separate those two wires and cap them each w/ a wire nut and leave it until get some on-site advice.

Although, maybe if you try to describe how the wires were originally more specifically it would be possible to figure out what you actually have.

Reply to
dpb

Thanks so much for your reply. What I have is this:

Junction box in ceiling. From that is 1 red wire, 2 white wires that were twisted together, with a 3rd white wire from the light fixture. All 3 of these white wires were twisted together and capped. There is also 2 black wires coming out of that junction box and they're just twisted together and capped.

Electrical outlets (4 outlets in 1 unit). This unit has a 2-wire ground romex cable coming from it into the junction box.

When I removed the old light fixture, the white wire was connection to the silver screw and the red wire was connected to the brass screw on the fixture.

I know the black and white wires from the electrical outlet unit were definitely twisted together. But somehow the red wire was maybe in the mix?

Argh! I think you're right and I'll have to call an electrician. I know it's probably something simple I'm missing.

Thanks again for your help. It is greatly appreciated!

Reply to
PawsForThought

This is most likely your problem.....one of these blacks is most likely to your outlets....and the other to another outlet somewhere you dont know of that is not working. Blacks to the group of blacks....whites to group of whites. and red to blacks.

Colors of these wires? More than likely black and white........trace these....and be sure wires are hooked up white to white.......black to black..and the red to black

This is correct

This is definetly WRONG!! The white to the group of whites.....and the black to the blacks......the red to the group of blacks.

This is probably your safest bet.....dont want to read about you in the morning paper.

Reply to
avid_hiker

Well, when OP said he was sure of this and also threw a red into the mix I got to wondering about whether one white was (an unmarked) return from an unmentioned switch and/or if the red might even be a sign of a three-way somewhere in the mix...'cause it still seems as though he would have an "always on" light w/o the chain pull otherwise.

Agree as w/o seeing and being able to trace it seems unlikely to diagnose the actual situation correctly from afar...

Reply to
dpb

Is there a switch in the circuit somewhere? A black and white together tell me that's a switched line.

-Felder

Reply to
felderbush001

Hi Felder, thanks for the reply. No, there is no switch.

Reply to
PawsForThought

I could swear that the red wire was twisted in with the black and white wires from the electrical outlet box. I wish I'd paid better attention when removing the old light fixture.

Thanks, lol, me either. I called up a couple of electrcians, one wanted $75 and another $90. So I decided to call an electrician we've used in the past. Unfortunately, he doesn't live that close but one of his workers will hopefully be in our area this week so can come by to fix it ($45). I wouldn't normally care that much about an outlet not working but this is the one that the clothes washer and dryer are plugged into and there's not another outlet nearby. It's just frustrating because I'm sure the fix is something very simple.

Anyways, thanks everyone for your help. I really do appreciate it.

Reply to
PawsForThought

This makes a difference also. I wish you the best. Im sure this electrician will figure it out. Take care.

Dean

Reply to
avid_hiker

If your basement is unfinished and you can tell where the cables go, listing how many wires are in each cable and where they go would go a long way to get help from afar.

Reply to
Terry

Thanks again for all the replies. Electrician was just out here. Whoever said the black and white together was wrong, was right. He took the white wire from the electrical box and put it with the other white wires, and then took the black wire from the electrical box and put with red wire somehow. Now it works great, and only charged $45, which I thought was fair, especially considering he had to come from quite a distance away.

Reply to
PawsForThought

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