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Electrical Wiring

Three romex into recessed light box

11 years ago

I have three romex coming into one arm of the recessed light. 1 from a new recessed light, 1 from switch and 1 from not sure where. I connected all the blacks/whites/grounds to the recessed light but the light doesn't turn off when I flipped the circuit back on.

When I took the existing light out it had two romex going in but funny (or not) thing was one of the reds wasn't hooked up, it was just sitting there, no wire caps and not attached to anything. I tried it once with the red in with the blacks and one without and neither would turn the light off.

The other romex that came from the switch didn't have a red. Light worked fine.

Please advise

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Comment (1)

Ron Natalie
11 years ago
There's more to wiring than just matching the colors.

My guess is the "not sure where" wire is the power feed from (indirectly or directly) the breaker. By just twisting together all the colors you by feed power to the light even when the switch is off (and if you turn the switch on, I bet the breaker trips...then the light goes off). If that's the case, take the black from the "not sure where" wire, connect it to the white going to the switch. Take the black from the switch and put it to the black for the two lights. Connect the whites from the light and the "not sure where" together.
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