All,

In our kitchen is a old florescent fixture. My Wife decided today was the day to change it out. I wired it exactly as the previous one was wired and it sparked and blew the breaker.

Here is the wiring nightmare I have:

3- white wires. I connected the wht wire from the fixture to them.
3- black wires connected together up in the box. Nothing from the previous fixture was connected to them.
1- red wire. I connected the blk wire from the fixture to it, the same as the previous fixture.
3- copper grounds, I coonected the fixture ground to it. The old fixture didn't have a ground wire.

It appears....by the soot and arc marks that the red wire is the source of my potential fire.

The red wire appears to be made in with the wht, blk and copper instead of just blk, wht, copper.

This is a typical wiring configuration when there is a switched wire on red, OR, you have a 3-way wiring setup.

Do you know if this fixture is controlled by two wall switches?  If so - this is a 3-way configuration, and it should be wired like so:




You can pull your wall plates for the switches so you can see how they wired it.

The switch that feeds the light has two levers, one for the ceiling light and one for the pantry.

But only a SINGLE switch controls that particular light?

I don't think there is another, seperate switch that controls the light. We've only been here a year but I don't know of another one.

As far as I know yes. The top lever of the "double" switch is the only one to control the light.

You need to find the other switch.

Highly unlikely that there is a red wire in the mix if its not a three way.

Pull out the switch also and look at the wiring.

As in the diagram above, you should have a two wire feed.  Black for hot (power) and white for neutral (base...I don't want to call it ground).  The bare wire is case ground.  See if the black is switched to be the red wire which would indicate that it's going to a different switch.

Do you have a meter?  Volt meter or wiggy?  Your white is ALWAYS going to be neutral if installed normally.  The only question is if the black or red is hot at the light.  Measure from red to white and black to white.  Flip the switch also.  Find out which wire gives you 110v when you flip the switch.

I was just out examining everything, I found the black wire from the fixture had two spots where it must have pinched or something, the insulation was nicked off.

So...hoping I didn't screw up the light and thankful that I didn't burn the house down I cut out the damaged wire and re-installed the light.

It works, no popping, arcing, or tripped breakers.

Another 15 minute project that took 2 hours.... but the Wife is happy and I'm happy the house isn't in ashes.

I appreciate you guys and your quick replies. Thanks!!

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More likely this

Yes, that's how the old one was wired and I wired the new one.