[JohnyFever]

Hi - Hoping someone can assist with this. I'll try to provide as much information as possible. The light fixture i'm replacing works fine and has probably been in place for 30 years +. I recently replaced the switch and now am looking to replace the actual light fixture. I'll try to attach a couple of pictures ... Here is what I have at the switch and fixture. I just want confirmation that this is code. It doesn't make sense to me, but doesn't mean much.

At the Single Pole Switch I have two wires:

Red, White, Black
White, Black

Red Attached to switch
Black attached to the switch and spliced with other black
Whites both spliced together

At the fixture I found two wires:

Red, White, Black
White, Black

Red (Hot) attached to the White Wire from the fixture
Black wires are spliced together
White Wires Spliced together along with the black from the fixture

All wire is BX 14 AWG – no ground wires

Is this right ? This was probably the original fixture for a house built in 1965 … Any thoughts ? Thank you

 

[Msradell]

I got a little confused by your terminology, you actually have 2 cables with individual wires inside of them. From what I understand of your description I would say everything is fine according to code except for the fact that the red wire at the light fixture should be attached to the black from the light fixture and then the whites all joined together. Functionally it will make a difference but for troubleshooting it would be much easier.

It is part of a 3 way circuit? By your description of the cabling it sounds like it was at one time. Otherwise you wouldn't expect to see the 3 conductor cables.

 

[JohnyFever]

Sorry for the confusion. Yes, two cables at both the switch and fixture.

This is tiny bathroom in a basement so it would make no sense to have 3-way switch. I was confused when I saw the red wire at the switch, I wasn't sure why they would use 3 wires. The only thing I can think of is the previous fixture had a receptacle on it - is it possible that using the red they were able to provide a constant hot to the receptacle even when the light switch was off ?

 

[mikegp]

Was there a bathroom fan/light combo there?

 

[JohnyFever]

Not a fan/light combo, but the fixture had a single outlet on it. This is a 1/2 bath so I can't imagine them putting in a fan. If you look at the picture with the back of the fixture, there are wires coming for the light and wires for the receptacle.

 

[joed]

Your light fixture box has a switched hot(red), a constant hot(black) and a neutral(white).
Your new fixture should be connected to the red and white. The old fixture had the wires reversed. Red should have been to the black.
The two black in the fixture box connect to each other. They are an unswitched feed to some other part of the circuit.
Leave the switch alone.

 

[JohnyFever]

Thank you Joed ! I appreciate it. Does it makes sense that the fixture worked with the original wiring ? That's what really had me confused is that the light is working as expected. Thanks again