How do you wire a ceiling light from five different locations?

Answer 1

=== === In the ceiling box there may be a Black wire, a Red wire, a White wire and a Green or Bare wire. The light fixture may only have a Black wire, a White wire and it may or may not have a Green or a Bare wire.

The Black wire in the ceiling box may or may not be be a "Hot traveler" wire coming from the lighting circuit breaker on the main panel. The Red wire may or may not be a "Switched Hot" coming from the light switch for this light. The White wire should be a Neutral coming from the main panel. The Green wire should only ever be a safety Ground wire coming from the main panel.

Or there may be a two-way switched circuit feeding the light. If it is a light near some stairs and you have 2 switches controlling it, one switch downstairs and another switch upstairs, then the wiring could well be as follows: the Red (or the Black) is a "hot feed" to the switches and the other one, the Black (or the Red) is the "hot return" from the switches. (There would also have to be a further wire, a "Hot Common" wire running between the switches which could be any color other than Green or Bare and it may or may not appear in the ceiling box, it depends where the switches are located.)

The light fixture must be hooked-up as follows:

If the light fixture has a Green or Bare wire it must be connected to the Green or Bare wire in the ceiling box. (On European fittings the Ground or Earth wire is Yellow/Green.) If the Neutral on the light fixture is a White wire it must be connected to the White wire in the ceiling box. (On European fittings the Neutral is a Blue wire.) If the Hot on the light fixture is a Black wire it must be connected to the switched hot wire in the ceiling box, which may be Red or it may be Black: you must check which wire is the correct one to use or the light will not be switched off by the switch! (On European fittings the Hot or Live is a Brown wire.)

For more information see the answer to the Related Question shown below. <><><>

As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

If you do this work yourself, always turn off the power

at the breaker box/fuse panel BEFORE you attempt to do any work AND

always use an electrician's test meter having metal-tipped probes

(not a simple proximity voltage indicator)

to insure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized. IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB

SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.