This is why we don't trust color codes I spent this…
0 reactions
This is why we don't trust color codes
I spent this afternoon installing a new lamp in the living room of my father-in-law's house. It should have been a half hour job, but it took three hours to do because somebody mangled the wiring.
The picture shows how the old lamp was connected. It had two separate lights with two switches on the wall.
Things that are wrong coming out of the ceiling:
1. The green wire should be safety ground. Here, it is switched hot for one of the lights.
2. The blue should be neutral. Here, it is switched hot for the other light.
3. Brown should be hot or switched hot. Here it is neutral.
4. There is no safety ground available.
Things wrong on the lamp:
1. The blue wires should be connected to neutral. They are both connected to switched hot.
2. The brown wires should be connected to switched hot. They are both connected to neutral.
If the lamp and the ceiling wiring were correct, the neutral would be on the outside connector of the bulb making it safe(r) if you accidentally touch it while changing the bulb.
The new lamp has a metal base, so it requires a functional safety ground.
Instead of just swapping the lamps, I had to partially rewire the connection. That meant trying to trace the wiring through junction boxes. Somewhere in that house is a junction box I couldn't find. In that hidden junction box, the blue wire from the ceiling is connected to a black wire that runs to the switch, the green wire was connected to a purple one connected to the switch, and the brown wire was connected to a blue wire connected to neutral (gray) in the box with the switch. In case you were wondering, those colors a messed up as well.
Since I couldn't trace all the wiring, I had to figure it out by disconnecting and reconnecting individual wires to see what each did.
In the end, all I could do was to disconnect the purple wire from the switch and connect it to the red(!) wire in the one junction box I could get into. It seems at least the living room uses red for safety ground.
With a functioning safety ground for the lamp and the brown and blue from the lamp connected to switched hot and neutral, the new lamp is safely connected. Blue from lamp to brown from ceiling and brown from lamp to blue from ceiling because I couldn't correct that part of the wiring in the house. Still fucked up, but as much better as I could make it without tearing up the house.
My father-in-law swears it was done by a qualified electrician.
If it was, it's too late to get his license yanked - that lamp and the wiring haven't been touched in 30 years that I know of.
#comedy
source
I spent this afternoon installing a new lamp in the living room of my father-in-law's house. It should have been a half hour job, but it took three hours to do because somebody mangled the wiring.
The picture shows how the old lamp was connected. It had two separate lights with two switches on the wall.
Things that are wrong coming out of the ceiling:
1. The green wire should be safety ground. Here, it is switched hot for one of the lights.
2. The blue should be neutral. Here, it is switched hot for the other light.
3. Brown should be hot or switched hot. Here it is neutral.
4. There is no safety ground available.
Things wrong on the lamp:
1. The blue wires should be connected to neutral. They are both connected to switched hot.
2. The brown wires should be connected to switched hot. They are both connected to neutral.
If the lamp and the ceiling wiring were correct, the neutral would be on the outside connector of the bulb making it safe(r) if you accidentally touch it while changing the bulb.
The new lamp has a metal base, so it requires a functional safety ground.
Instead of just swapping the lamps, I had to partially rewire the connection. That meant trying to trace the wiring through junction boxes. Somewhere in that house is a junction box I couldn't find. In that hidden junction box, the blue wire from the ceiling is connected to a black wire that runs to the switch, the green wire was connected to a purple one connected to the switch, and the brown wire was connected to a blue wire connected to neutral (gray) in the box with the switch. In case you were wondering, those colors a messed up as well.
Since I couldn't trace all the wiring, I had to figure it out by disconnecting and reconnecting individual wires to see what each did.
In the end, all I could do was to disconnect the purple wire from the switch and connect it to the red(!) wire in the one junction box I could get into. It seems at least the living room uses red for safety ground.
With a functioning safety ground for the lamp and the brown and blue from the lamp connected to switched hot and neutral, the new lamp is safely connected. Blue from lamp to brown from ceiling and brown from lamp to blue from ceiling because I couldn't correct that part of the wiring in the house. Still fucked up, but as much better as I could make it without tearing up the house.
My father-in-law swears it was done by a qualified electrician.
If it was, it's too late to get his license yanked - that lamp and the wiring haven't been touched in 30 years that I know of.
#comedy
source
| 2,000 mlx | |
| 2 | |
| 0 |