Light always on?

[Henry B.]

A neighbor helped me out ( broken shoulder is in a sling) and when I was in hospital removed a working but rusty porch ceiling fan and replaced it with a light.Which won't turn off! I called him and he said he connected white ceiling wire to white light wire and black ceiling wire to black and there was a red wire left over which he didn't touch.It is not and has never been a 3 way circuit.Seems to me I can visit the switch and all do all I need to without getting up on the ladder. I figure that I will find Red going throuigh the switch and B and W running past it. Which,B or W, should I connect ?I assume that R will need to be capped off. Hank

[Joseph Meehan]

I expect you will find that a white and black go into the switch and back out with the switch connected to the black and a red line at the other side of the switch continuing to the fan.

[John Hines]

It sounds like connecting the light to red and white instead of black and white would allow it to be switched on/off.

Then cap off the unused black (always on) wire.

White is always neutral and is never switched.

[Doug Miller]

Wrong. It's a *very* common practice to control lights with switch legs, in which only one cable goes to the switch: the black wire bringing power to the switch and the white wire returning switched power to the light fixture.

E.g.

(-) -----white-----*-----white----- Light Fixture (+) -----black----* *---black----- | | | | black-> | |

[Joseph Meehan]

In which case the white should be marked as it is no acting as a neutral.

[Doug Miller]

I could be wrong - don't have a Code book handy to check - but ISTR that the Code permits leaving the white wire unmarked _in_this_specific_situation_. It's certainly a sufficiently widespread practice that it should not be any surprise to find it so.

[Chris Lewis]

According to Doug Miller :

When you do a switch leg, I believe the wire going to the hot side of the fixture must be black (or red). Which means that the white side of the switch is connected to the hot feed wire (which will be black or red), and is the unswitched hot.

As I understand it, in this particular case you don't have to mark the white wires - in the fixture, you have one white wirenutted to one or more black/red wires. Which means the white wire _must_ be hot (you cannot use a black or red for neutral[+]). At the switch end, obviously both terminals are hot...

[+] Except in panel feeds above a certain gauge, yadda yadda yadda.

[Henry B.]

What can I accomplish at the switch...i.e. without climbing the ladder?

[John Hines]

Open it up, and describe what is actually there, rather than just a guess?

You may be able to change the black wire, so that it is the one that is switched, on the other hand, it may feed additional fixtures.

[indago]

040608 0926 - Doug Miller posted:

When using a 2-wire Romex w/ground for a switch for lighting, the feed from the light to the switch is the white wire, and the return from the switch to the light is the black wire.

[Bob]

Almost all wrong.

Sure glad you guys aren't in the business of wiring buildings.

Bob

[Lost-In-Translation]

Well then next time instead of trolling for free advice ya cheap bastard, call a professional and pay their rate!

[Henry B.]

Kid next door climbed ladder,connected red to black and capped black- BINGO! A one handed clap of appreciation to all!

Hank "