Confusion With Track Light

I'm trying to fix a problem with a track light installment over the a bar I've just put in. I've done it before. never had issues. but this particular problem is driving me nuts. It just defies logic.  The electrician who actually installed the associated dimmer switches with this dining room area was called as it seems it may be a flaw with his wiring, but he's blown us off and I have to try and solve this myself.



This is how it's all set up. I've been rehabbing our home from top to bottom, and converted our old kitchen into a dining area. Within this dining area are four sets of lights, all controlled from one box containing four dimmer switches. I set up all the new wiring and installation of the lights in the ceiling, and we paid an electrician to come in, check everything out, set up the multiple switches, and connect it all to the board. It's all new copper wiring from beginning to end, as I didn't want to connect or splice in to the old aluminum wiring that was in place. All the new wiring and lights are on a dedicated 15 amp breaker. Three of the sets of lights were set up to be available from the day the electrician came around. The fourth, for the track light over the bar, was left hanging from the ceiling capped off and with the switch off, as I still had work to do installing an overhead wine rack, under which the track was going to be set.



Two days ago I finally got around to putting the track up, but after setting it in place and connecting the power up the lights wouldn't work. I took the lights out to our kitchen, where I installed another track light system some time ago, plugged one of the lights in, and it worked just fine. I then went back to the bar area and used a spare track, then a spare connector, to see if I could isolate the fault, yet neither of the items provided a solution. Now here's the weird bit - every time I tried checking the system out, I'd get 120 volts showing from the wiring and from the track when I'd test with the multimeter. But the second I'd put a light into the track, the multimeter would drop to zero on the voltage reading on either the wiring or the track. Take the light fixture back out, and the voltage would pop back up. Inserting the light was thus completing some kind of odd loop. It wasn't just one light - I double checked by grabbing working lights from the kitchen track and inserting them into the other track - the same problem would pop up. Finally, having come to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with the track at all, I took the whole assembly over to a nearby wall outlet, used some spare electric cable to connect up to the appropriate slots - presto, the light came on! I even double checked all this by grabbing another light fixture destined for our bathroom, and tried connecting it to the wiring over the bar. Nothing. Yet as with the track light, the minute I took it over to the wall outlet and connected it, the light worked.



So everything logically points to the fact it has to be something to do with this individual circuit, right, because a) the light fixtures work when plugged into another circuit and b) the other three dimmers and lights hooked up in the same box work fine and draw power from the same wire cable/breaker combination. The only things left that I can think of is that the electrician has either wired the dimmer switch up incorrectly or that there's some kind of flaw inside the switch itself. Does this make sense?



A friend also told me to double-check to make sure that the black wire feeding power to the light was indeed the hot wire, and it is.  If I touch it with the black test lead from the multimeter and put the red one to the neutral I show 120 volts. If I keep the black test lead on the black wire and put the red test lead to the ground - I also show 120 volts.



A final point. I know I'm not overloading the circuit - not even close. With all four dimmers maxed and every light on - including the test light on the track - I'd only be drawing 8 amps on a 15 amp breaker, besides which I'm only using one set of lights while I'm working on this problem anyway. This is a dedicated circuit, so there's no additional power being drawn away by something else.



So how am I getting 120 volts from this wiring, according to my multimeter, yet it won't light up ANYTHING and keeps giving off the indication that some kind of loop or short is being created every time I actually plug a light into the track? It's got me totally stumped.



Anyone have any ideas?
      


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I am working on fixing an issue with the wiring in one of the bedrooms in my older mountain home. Though I was not present for the cause of the problem, here is what was told to me by the tennant.  he claimed that he went to turn on the light in the closet, (a 3 lamp track bar light, wired to a switch) he heard a loud pop from the light in the closet and lost power to to the room. The room has 6 recessed ceiling lights on 2 separate switches, presently only half of the lights work.There are no breakers tripped, no obvious shorts at outlets. I have opened the drywall following the wires around hoping to find a short but I have found nothing. I decided to try something, and I bridged the working switch to a dead outlet and everything turned on. I am waiting til the daytime to follow the wires outside to the breaker box, but so far no breaks or anything.. curious if anyone has any pointers.. could the pop he heard from the track lighting have killed a breaker? its about the only thing left.
      
Hi, I have a fluorescent light I'd like to remove and add a tracklight.



Luckily it's in the basement with an unfinished ceiling.



here's the circuit map as is now:



1. breaker to fluorescent light.... connections inside

2. fluorescent light to switch at the top of the stairs

3. switch to the light in the stairwell. This terminates the circuit.



The wiring is all 14/2



I'd like to replace the the fluorescent light with a track light, but I'm not sure how to continue the circuit to the switch in the stairwell.



Is it safe to...



1. bring the cable from the breaker to the junction box.

2. connect the black wire with the black wire on the light AND the black wire leaving the box to the switch in the stairwell using a marette.

3. connect the white wire with the white wire on the light AND the white wire leaving the box to the switch in the stairwell using a marette

4. connecting a 6 inch bare 14 gauge wire to the box ground screw, then using a marette, connecting it with the ground wire from the cable entering the box as well as the one leaving and also the ground wire from the light.



Will this work and is it safe?
      
This is kind of a complicated question, but I  think I have figured out how to do it right.  I wanted to run it by some folks here before going to the city code enforcer.  See the attached diagrams for details.



I  am planning a fairly elaborate lighting scheme for my home theater  area, mostly because I plan for the theater automation to be a hobby for  me. (I'm an electrical engineer)

 

I want to have banks of lights that I could later choose to group  differently onto dimmer switches.  For example, I have six can lights.   Some people I have talked to think I should dim the front four together  and back two separately.  Some think I should dim the front two together  and back four separately.  Some say I should dim them all together. 



So I decided I'd run each group of two cans to a junction box, run  the switches to a junction box, and then wire the switches to the lights  in the junction box - then I could later change it if I decided it should work  differently.  In addition, this would keep the junction boxes the  dimmers were in free from extra wires, since I plan to buy nice dimmers  that are fairly deep and would take more space in the switch boxes.  And  if I find that using switches differently would make it more intuitive,  I can change which switch controls which lights easily after the fact.   This would also allow me later to possibly control the lights with an  automated system.

 

There are some track lights and rope lights, as well as a couple  receptacles that would all come back to the junction box where they'd be  connected to the switches/dimmers.



I am bringing in power from  two circuits to balance the lighting.  I plan to put some of the lights  on one circuit and some on the other.  The second circuit has some other  stuff on it already, so it has less load left over, so most stuff will  go on the first circuit.

 

Also to save on wiring and make running wire easier, I was planning  to use 14/3 wiring where possible.  Any given 14/3 wire would  always be connected to only one of the circuits (no shared neutrals).



The attached files show my exact plan for each circuit. Note they both  share the junction box in the upper right corner of the pictures, they  also share the switch banks.  This allows me to decide which switches  control which lights, as well as decide which lights will be powered on  which circuit to balance them properly.  Note that the track lights are  each 2 circuit track, that's why I'm running 14/3 to each.

   

See the attached files for circuit #1 and circuit #2



I am running 14/3 NM to the switches.  I was planning to have two  switches share one 14/3 cable.  I am also running 14/3 to each group of  two light groups that I want to control separately.



I've also attached a diagram from the perspective of the junction box.



I also attached an example circuit on how I plan to use the 14/3 wire.

   

Here are some other decisions I made:



- The junction box will  be PVC 8x8x4 (256 cu. in.)  All the wires coming into the box add up to  70 cu in. so the box should be plenty large.

- All the grounds from both circuits will be tied together

  - The neutrals for both circuits will always be kept completely separate (NO shared neutrals)

- No 14/3 wire will ever carry power from more than one circuit (this would violate the shared neutrals anyway)



Even  though this is kind of elaborate and for hobby, I want to be sure to do  it safely and up to code.  Does anyone see anything wrong with  my plan?

 

Thanks,



Daniel
      
Going through a crazy heat wave here in SoCal, and one of my tenants called to tell me that the electricity isn't on in some of his rooms. He turned on his portable AC unit that he has been using all summer and something may have happened.



Downstairs:The dining room light switch, downstairs light switch do not work. All outlets around them do work though, which is odd cause I would have thought they'd be on the same circuit.



Upstairs: The side bathroom light switch does not work, but outlets all work. In the master bedroom (where the AC unit is located), the master bathroom light switch does not work, nor does the master bedroom light switch. All of the outlets do not work either. I used my outlet tester and it gave me the hot/ground reversed lights. I think this means that the white/black wires are reversed on the outlets (has not changed recently).



I went over, checked all of the breakers. Switched them to off, then back on, did not fix the issue. All breakers stay in the on position without tripping, so no shorts?



Checked all GFCI's, hit test, then reset, did not solve the problem.



We unplugged everything from all outlets, and retried, but it didn't work.



I checked continuity between the main power lines, and the output of the circuit breakers, and all were fine. I did NOT check the voltages though, and will do so in the morning when I stop by again.



Is there anything else I should check?
      
I have two dimmable electronic transformers with 12 volt ac output. The track light system has two circuits with one common ground for the circuits. Can I wire one of the output wires from each transformer into the common ground of the track light system? I will be dimming each transformer with an electronic dimmer on the primary side.
      
Hello. I'm a new home owner and DIY-er. I have 3 fluorescent lights  in my basement. I just replaced the fixtures' older ballasts with new  T8 ballasts in the first two lights and they work fine. I am having  trouble with the third light's wiring to the ceiling. I cut and removed  the old ballast without paying much attention because I was able to wire  the first two lights without any problem. I connected the new ballast  to the bulb sockets in the fixture, just like I did with the first two  lights. When I went to connect the ballast's black and white power lines  to the ceiling lines, I was thrown off by a red wire, which I guess is  connected to the light switch.  In addition, this light is connected to  the one of the other fluorescent lights and both are controlled by the  switch. I have attached  pictures of how I have it wired.



The way I have it wired now,  the other light turns on and works fine when the switch is flipped.  However, this light has the bulb flicker and then not turn on. If anyone  can tell what I'm doing wrong from looking at the pictures, I'd  appreciate any help! Thanks!
      
I have a 1960s house with EMT throughout. 



I recently replaced 2 florecent fixtures in my basement with 4 LED lights in their own J-Boxes in the drop ceiling. I did the following:



1. Rerouted the the conduit from the light switch to the main j-box for the lights. (previously it was going directly into the fixture) 

2. Ran 4 foot whips to each jbox holding the LED (metalic 14# wires)

3. Cut the old spliced wire (that was just twisted and taped) and used a wire nut

4. Replaced the switch with a dimmer



The lights work great.  Noticebale improvement and the dimmer is excellent.



The issue is that the circuit for the kitchen is now tripping.  I told my wife its just a coincidence, but she is sure I caused it.  Its only happened 2x (1 day apart.  Nothing unusual running on the circuit, only the fridge and the gas stove which as not in use)



Can my "new" work possibly impact another circuit?   What should I check?  Any way to avoid re-doing my work?



Things I noticed / may or may not be relevant:

1. Some of the EMT is directly in contact with a copper water pipe

2. The switch / dimmer isn't grounded

3. The wires in the jbox were nasty and old.  There was corrosion on the jackets and the jbox.  Looks like some water leaked down fromt the laundy above at some point in the last 40 years.

4. At some point (months ago) when I was in the basement I touched some of the EMT and something that was plugged in I swear I feld a shock. (just listing everything I can think of).  I didn't think much of it at the time, but now my whole electrical system is suspect.

5.  The tripped circuit (fridge, MW, stove) didn't appear to be tripped.  The fridge wasn't on.  When I turned off and back on the circuit the aplliances came back to life.  Appliances less than 1 year old. 

6. The clock on the range was reset at one point but I didn't think I turned on or off the circuit.  The lights for the basement were switced off but still worked with the fridge circuit tripped.

7.  We had a huge electrical storm right before I did the work

8.  We have a "stablock" panel that the home inspector got all bent out of shape about.  Other than truning on and off breakers I have never touched it.

9.  Kitchen breaker and basement light breaker are adjacent in the box

10.  I believe kitchen and basement share the same EMT in places.

11.  I think I now have too many connectors in my j-box.  Will likely add an extension.

12.  I didn't use the red "bushing" on all my whips as I ran out of them, but I was careful with the metal sheath and really don't think any wires were cut. (besides if there was a short wouldn't my LED lights fail and that circut break?)



HELP.  I am happy to call a contractor to come in, but I don't have an electrician I trust yet and I'm scared bringing someone in before I isolate the problem a little.
      
hi guys,



Im a 1st year apprentice sparks so pretty inexperienced! i have a job on during the week to wire a bathroom extractor fan in for my friend. He wants it to come on separately from the bathroom light.



Theres a 2 gang switch outside  the bathroom, one for landing lights other for bathroom. So im thinking of replacing this with a 3 gang switch for the fan.



Im gonna take permanent feed from one of the two other switches ie(bathroom or landing) to the fan switch 'common' to power it, then also take a permanent feed for the fan from the 'common' side of this new switch as its a timer fan.



Then switch feed from L1 on new switch to fan. And finally neutral from bathroom light fitting to fan. I know that these 3 cables going to fan have to be isolated at another switch before going to fan!



Am I on the right track. Thanks in advance.
      
When repairing a light switch I came across this wiring in a supposed 3-way setting in my kitchen.  Two Single Pole Double Throw switches controlling a single light fixture. 



Check out the quick and dirty wiring diagram showing the way these are connected.  I believe there should be a 14/3 between the two switches right?



All I see is 14/2 coming in and a 14/2 going across to the other switch, and then a 14/2 going to the light. And why are the neutrals cut and wire capped?  This doesn't make sense to me, but the light does work from both switches.



Any insight will be greatly appreciated.



Cheers!
      
Hello.

my electricity bills have been sky high for as long as i have been keeping track of them (less than 2 years).   i finally decided to try to track down the culprit.  I bought a watt meter to find phatom loads.  I found some and took care of them



However,

The electric hot water tank has got me thinking.  Could this be the cause of high utility bills?  The tank itself is ancient (RHEEM).  By the way it is rented from the utility company.  it is hard to tell the age because there is no date stamp, and the model number does not come up on the internet at all.  If i were to guess, maybe 25 years easily.  It functions in that I get hot water no problem



1.  Is it possible that the electric  HWT consumes way more energy than it should?, and how?

2.  Is there a way to track the usage?  My utility company installed a smart meter last year, and required an upgrade to get a new circiut breaker panel from old fuses

thanks