installing new light fixture problem

Hello and happy holidays to all: I am having a problem installing a light fixture. The light fixture is worked through a wall switch. The old fixture that was on there was working fine, but it got tugged on(it was a hanging light fixture over a pool table. ) and the one of the wires came loose. We decided we wanted a different fixture, so the wife picked up one at ikea.

This is what I have and what is happening(sorry for long post, but I want to be exact as I can) From the ceiling electric box, are 1) three white wires twisted together 2) three black wires twisted together 3) and one red wire. The old light fixture had one black wire and one white wire. I believe they were connected originally to the black and white wires in the ceiling box. The fixture turned off and on with a wall swath. We connected the new fixture, which has a black wire, white wire and green wire. We connected white with white, black with black, and the green wire we initially left unconnected. The light turned on , when we turned the circuit breaker on, but would not turn on and off, from the light switch. We weren't sure what to do, so we thought to try and put back the original fixture(which only had one black and one white wire) we connected black to black and white to white. We were puzzled at the same result. Fixture would work, when circuit breaker turned on, but not turn on and off from wall switch. We have nothing now. Can you help me, and give me some suggestions to install new fixture which has the black, white and green, and what to connect to ceiling box which has black, white, and red.

Thanks so much,and much regards

Jerry

Reply to
J.Lef
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Put the wire nut back on the three black wires and tuck them back into the box. Install the white wire from the new fixture with the other white wires, and the black wire from the fixture to the red wire, and ground to fixture bar or other metal, and it will work off of the wall switch.

Reply to
RBM

The black wire from the fixture should connect to the red wire. All the white wires should be connected together, and all the black wires except the one from the fixture should be connected together.

If you have bare wires in the box, connect the green to them. If there are no bare or green wires, then leave the green wire disconnected. The green/bare wires are ground connections. For safety, the metal outside parts of the fixture should be connected to ground, but if you don't have bare or green wires in the box, you don't have grounded wiring.

HTH,

Paul F.

Reply to
Paul Franklin

We connected the black wire fixture to the red ceiling wire. We connected white wire fixture to white wires in ceiling. We left the three black intertwined ceiling wires alone,(they are capped) and we capped off the green wire from the fixture. Everything is working fine, and from the swith. Thanks to all responders who helped me out on this. ONE FURTHER QUESTION. This new fixture is using 3 50w-120v gu10 halogens. We want to replace the wall switch with a dimmer. I understand no problem with

120 v halogens. Is this correct??

Thanks and much regards Jerry

Reply to
J.Lef

You can dim them, but doing so may actually shorten their life (unlike standard bulbs). Halogens depend on operating at a high enough temperature to allow the gas inside the capsule to do its thing. If you dim it more than a little, the inside temperature can drop below the necessary point and the halogen capsule can build up black deposits on the inside reducing light output considerably.

How much is too much? From what I've read, operating at 90% of nominal voltage is OK, 70-80% may be OK, especially if the fixture is enclosed, allowing heat to build up anyway. Below that will likely cause problems.

Try it if you like. All you will be out is the cost of 3 bulbs and the dimmer. If you will only be dimming occasionally or only slightly dim, you probably will be fine.

HTH,

Paul F.

Reply to
Paul Franklin

Oh pshaw, on Tue 25 Dec 2007 04:40:52p, Paul Franklin meant to say...

I wonder if that's always true. In a previous home we had 5 recessed 20 watt low-voltage halogen fixtures over the kitchen counter. The 5 bulbs were controlled by a 3 position dimmer. We frequently operated them on the lowest setting, occasionally on the middle setting, and rarely on the full power setting. We moved from there about 5 years after installation and had never needed to replace a bulb.

Reply to
Wayne Boatwright

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