Kitchen Ideas Faqs

Trying to install a kitchen light. Not sure which wire is positve and which is negative?

Its a very old fixture over the kitchen sink. The pre existing fixture was an old shop light. When I removed it the wires were not connected. I have 3 old wires... 2 are the same color and the third is red. I tested the wires with one of those little pen probes and the red wire is hot and one of the same colored wires is hot. The new fixtures has a black and white color with the ground. Is the old red wire to match with the new white wire?? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Public Comments

1. There are only positive and negative wires in a DC circuit, In and AC circuit you have hot and neutral wires. the wire from the switch should be the HOT wire and should be black or painted end black. and should be connected to the gold coloured terminal and the white or neutral wire to the silver terminal. the green wire should be connected either to the junction box the light is attached to or if it has one the green screw. Be sure you have the power off before you attempt this...more people are killed by 110 AC than higher voltages....be careful. upon re reading your question are you sure you are not dealing with a 3 way circuit; turns the light on from two different switches. If so find the proper wiring diagram to connect the wires....
2. The black on the new fixture would connect to a hot. The white on the new fixture would connect to a nuetral (not hot) Why are there 2 hots? Were they connected together? Do they both go (on) when the swirch is on? Dont' know why there would be 2 hots. Is there a 3 way switch?
3. I think that whoever installed the shop light may have been careless. The only reasons that I can think of for two hot wires is that your old shop light required them, but I don't know why. The other is do you have two switches for the same light such as on different sides of the room? Anyway, as already answered, you only need one hot wire for your new fixture. You can simply place a wire nut on the extra hot wire end and disregard it. Then install your fixture. Again, be very careful and make sure the power is off when you work on the wires. Good luck.