I know there have been simular posts on this but I still cant make sence off my problem, my ceiling light won't.turn off. I replaced all the oulets, light switch and light fixture in my bedroom . One plug of an outlet is wired into the light switch with 2 red wires connected to the bottom post and 2 black wires connected to the upper post. The light switch has 2 pig tails, 1 with a black and red wire and the other with 4 black wires. The light wires are black and white same as the fixture but the old light didn't have a ground wire where the new one does which is really the only thing that's changed. The light switch checks out ok with the ohm meter. All the outlets were swapped out wire for wire to ensure I didn't mix anything up which is why I'm baffled. When taking ohms readings from the ceiling wires and the switch wires I get fluxuating readings. With the breaker shut I have 120v readings from both pig tails using the common wire from the ceiling and there is obviously 120v between the ceiling wires. Any idea as to what I'm missing?
Lighting – replaced ceiling light wont turn off
lighting
Related Solutions
It sounds like you're poking around in the wrong hole. The circuit you describe looks something like this...
Which obviously is not possible, since you say the light is on. More likely, the switch does not control the light at all, and the circuit looks more like this...
It's possible (as previously mentioned) that the switch actually controls a receptacle, or some other device. In which case the ceiling box is probably wired directly to the circuit, and is intended for a fixture with a built-in switch (pull chain).
Old UK wiring
Old UK wiring was as shown below
A comes from the fuse-box/consumer-unit (possibly via other junction-boxes/roses for other ceiling lights). B goes to the next ceiling light. C goes to the light switch for this lamp.
However most electricians will not have cable type C with two red wires and will have used regular cable with a black and a red wire and will put red tape around the end of the black wire to indicate it is "switched live" and not neutral (as it's black colour would suggest).
From what I've read, sometimes they would connect C's black wire to position 3 (the other red live wires) and then C's red wire would be the switched-live return from the switch. Connecting the black to the reds would make it obvious to an electrician and that might be why no wire had red-tape on it's end.
Checking
If someone has removed the red tape, you can:
- turn off the lighting circuit at the fuse-box/consumer-unit,
- check there's no voltage present with a voltage tester (preferable non-contact type) and
- separate all the wires,
- use a continuity tester to see which red & black pair are connected/disconnected by the switch
A typical Non-Contact Voltage detector (NCV) and a typical mains tester
Finding which wires go to a switch using a multimeter (at least CatII 600V rated) on an isolated circuit (off at fusebox and tested for no 240V AC).
Your wiring (Guesswork)
Looking at your photo, I think the top of the screw-block connections from left to right are probably:
- Live (3,4,5 in the diagram in this answer)
- Earth (9)
- Neutral (6,7)
- Switched Live (2)
In which case your lamp should be connected at the bottom of the two right-most positions.
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Best Answer
My guess is that your outlets were wired as split outlets; the top receptacle was switched with the wall switch, and the bottom was always hot. By default, outlets have the top and bottom receptacles connected together, so when you hooked them up, you made the upper outlet (and the light) always on.
The fix is simple; remove the outlet, and on the hot (black) side, you will find a bit of metal that connects the upper screw to the lower screw. Break that off with some pliers, and things will be okay. You will need to do this on all of the outlets that are wired this way.