zepper
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2009
- Messages
- 178
- Reaction score
- 62
Hey guys,
I can't be the first person who's done this, so I'm sorry if I'm asking something that's been asked (many times?) before.
My wife wanted to replace our existing dining room ceiling light—a three-bulb mini-spot, off to the side—with a pendant light directly over the dining table.
So I cut a hole in the ceiling in the right spot, added a cross-brace between two ceiling joists, installed a new junction box there, and ran its cable over the joists to the existing box. I connected the new cable's hot, neutral and ground leads where the old fixture's were connected.
Two switches, at either side of the room, control this line. I could see the red "travelers" in the original box, but I didn't think I needed to fuss with them, as the existing light wasn't connected to them. (You may be catching on that I don't know much about 3-way circuits.)
The switches worked with the old light. Now, only switch #1 turns the new light on and off—and only if switch #2 is off. If #2 is on, there's no light, and #1 has no effect.
In the existing box, there's also a mysterious black lead connected to a white lead... Was I supposed to do something with that?
Here's a photo—what did I do wrong? (I'm married, fortunately, so being wrong is a regular thing.) Thanks for your help!
I can't be the first person who's done this, so I'm sorry if I'm asking something that's been asked (many times?) before.
My wife wanted to replace our existing dining room ceiling light—a three-bulb mini-spot, off to the side—with a pendant light directly over the dining table.
So I cut a hole in the ceiling in the right spot, added a cross-brace between two ceiling joists, installed a new junction box there, and ran its cable over the joists to the existing box. I connected the new cable's hot, neutral and ground leads where the old fixture's were connected.
Two switches, at either side of the room, control this line. I could see the red "travelers" in the original box, but I didn't think I needed to fuss with them, as the existing light wasn't connected to them. (You may be catching on that I don't know much about 3-way circuits.)
The switches worked with the old light. Now, only switch #1 turns the new light on and off—and only if switch #2 is off. If #2 is on, there's no light, and #1 has no effect.
In the existing box, there's also a mysterious black lead connected to a white lead... Was I supposed to do something with that?
Here's a photo—what did I do wrong? (I'm married, fortunately, so being wrong is a regular thing.) Thanks for your help!