Installing new light fitting. Where do the wires go in the crimp?

Question

There are 3 pairs of red & black wires coming out of the wall where a previous light socket was. I have installed lights before, however in this case there are more wires than required. In the previous light fitting the red wires were all contacting each other in one socket, two black wires where in another socket and the third was in its own.

How should I spread the wires across the new fitting, in the crimp? I have three sockets available (one for earth). Should I group the three red wires in one socket and the three blacks in one socket? Or should I put one pair of wires in two sockets i.e one red wire in one socket and one black in the other socket (one earth) and then tape the other wires up, individually, and shove them back into the wall?

Thanks for any advice you may have.

Answer 1

i have seen this before in bathrooms, where the light and the exaust fan are on the same run. keep all the wires that were together that way. get a few ex-large wire nuts and add another wire using either 12 or 14 awg depending on the amprage of that curcut. there is no need to crimp them, get the twist on type wire nut. if you dont keep them together you will loose whatever is on down the run! good luck!!

Answer 2

This is at least the second time I've seen this kind of question. I have to ask, how did you get to this point?

IF you are replacing a light fixture, you just connect the new light the way the old light was connected. If it is only a new light, you should have run the wires and know what's up. So how did you get to this point?

There is no way to tell what the wires are doing without testing them. The different cables could be a power feed in, power feeds out, connections to switches, and the function will determine what is what. If you disconnected all the connections in the box taking down the old light, it is your fault for messing up.

You will need an electrician.

Answer 3

all of those wires are because you have more than one switch to control the lights. there should have just been a white and black wire loose from the old light to connect to the new light. the other wires go to the switches.

from circuit panel
white
=============
black

switch 1
black, red, white
============
-----------------------V

switch 2
red, white, black
============
----------------------V

to light
white silver screw
============
black gold screw

The white from the circuit panel goes to the silver screw of the light fixture.
The black from the circuit panel goes to a white wire to switch 1.
The black from switch 1 goes to black to switch 2.
The red from switch 1 goes to white to switch 2.
The black from switch 2 goes to the gold screw of the light.

Note: Either black or red from switch 2 can go to the gold screw, however it cannot be the white wire to the gold screw, that's the electrical code.
You can use the white wire to feed a switch but you cannot use it from the switch to the light.

Answer 4

Touch your tongue to the wire; if it fries your brain, it goes with the red ones.. Get an electrican, before you electrocute yourself, or worse, burn down your house ... Leave this job to the pros, Bob Villa