I changed a light fixture!!!

[Docwagon 856]

The main light fixture in my kitchen died yesterday.  I thought it had just blown the bulbs from a storm surge or something, but changing the bulbs didn't help.  It is a florescent type and has a ballast built in, so I shut off the breaker and got my multimeter out.  Yup, dead ballast.

 

Now here's where stuff gets tricky.  I'm afraid of electricity.  I do not understand it and I do not trust it.  I have only the most basic understanding of household wiring.  I have only the most basic understanding of how to use a multimeter.  My house is an older home and while the wiring is modern and up to code, its not always color coded the way it should be.  Top it off with this light is controlled by two different switches but the original electrical box wiring was just for one switch (the second switch was added in a later remodel). 

 

What does this mean?
 

1) There are too many wires.

2) Not all of the wires are the right color.

3) You can't tell at a glance if the switch is off or on because turning it "off" could actually turn it on, depending on the position of the other switch.

 

I came *THIS* close to calling in an electrician, but it being a holiday weekend I figured I'd be hit with overtime rates, so I ponied up and did it myself.

 

It wasn't easy.  It wasn't fun.  I had to take another working light fixture apart to figure out how it should be wired (I originally wired it like a normal one switch light fixture and it was always on, regardless of switch position for either switch).  Using the multimeter, looking at how the other one was wired, and having my wife control the switches I finally figured out it was white to white, black to read, the black to black that was inside the wire nut is left alone, and of course green to bare metal.

 

I did not shock myself, despite having to work with the breaker on so I could figure out what was hot when using the multimeter.  I did not set anything on fire.  I did not create any new holes in the ceiling.

 

Yay me!

[JsinOwl 644]

Congratulations, you're the one in the middle.

 

[Jason 1,245]

Get yourself one of those testing devices... Can't think of the proper name. They tell you if something is live/hot/has a current running to it. Saved my ass once.

Looks like this.

[tronic44 3,642]

Congrats dude, i've had to work with cables for a few years in my old job, was good fun but always a bit tense when you're in the depths of a cableland.

 

I used to use the same as what J posted above but it was a screwdriver that worked in the same way, i never did anything without it to be honest. The guy who wired up the building where i used to work was just straight up lazy so nothing was labeled and everything was the same colour (fun times)

[Chookes 965]

Nice man, I had to pay an electricians to put up 6 light fixtures for us in our new home. There was no way I trusted myself to do it.

[tronic44 3,642]

Nice man, I had to pay an electricians to put up 6 light bulbs for us in our new home. There was no way I trusted myself to do it.

 

Fixed that for ya dude

[Chookes 965]

Is a lightbulb not a light fixture?

[tronic44 3,642]

Na a bulb's a bulb and a light fixture is everything but the bulb, that's at least what i was taught but then knowing where i worked that's probably wrong lol 

 

There's nothing worse than pulling a fixture down and seeing wires hanging about everywhere :/

[Chookes 965]

Na a bulb's a bulb and a light fixture is everything but the bulb, that's at least what i was taught but then knowing where i worked that's probably wrong lol

Yeah Captn Obvious, I know, trololol.

[tronic44 3,642]

Yeah Captn Obvious, I know, trololol.

damn you Euan!

[Docwagon 856]

Get yourself one of those testing devices... Can't think of the proper name. They tell you if something is live/hot/has a current running to it. Saved my ass once.

Looks like this.

 

I had one like that and it would light up on the end if the wire was hot.  It also had an alligator clip you could use in addition to the pen part.  It broke last year, though, and I've yet to replace it.