Ceiling Light Wiring

[WildCard999]

So I took down my ceiling fan as it was getting in the way of my VR but stupidly forgot the wiring setup. The housing has 1 copper (ground?), two black wires (1 hot), 1 red wire, and one white wire.

The light I bought has 1 black, 1 white and 1 green. Connecting the white to white/ black to black and green to copper gives me power but no switch for on/off.

How do I determine which wire is the switch?

 

[R_1]

WITH THE CIRCUIT BREAKER OFF OR FUSE REMOVED -take off switch plate and examine how it is wired.

 

[WildCard999]

Ok, here's a pic as well if it helps.
https://imgur.com/a/7V8gS

 

[mjslakeridge]

How did you control the ceiling fan turning on/off while it was there? By a wall switch or pull chain on the fan? If by wall switch, is there more than 1 wall switch that controls that junction box? The existence of a red wire "could" indicate that it is a "traveler" wire, connecting 2 wall switches, although there is no universal standard.

 

[why_wolf]

might be to late now but how was the old ceiling fan wired up? Did it have matching wires or we're some of them twisted together with caps?

R_1 suggestion is good too. Inspect the wiring of the switch you know controls the fan.

 

[WildCard999]

The ceiling fan was setup for the light to be controlled by the wall switch and fan via pull chain but I don’t remember exactly how it was setup. It appears as the red wire may be the actual switch but if it is does it go to the black (hot) or white?

 

[mjslakeridge]

Is there only 1 wall switch that used to control the light in the ceiling fan? If so, you should be able to look at the wiring of that switch (circuit breaker off). If 2 wall switches are involved it gets more complicated.

 

[DeadRam]

The black wires are power, the red wire is usually power from another switch, white is neutral and bare copper or green is ground. One of the black wires might be hot all the time and the second black wire might be switched. The red wire should be switched too. With a meter check black to white, second black to white, red to white before and after toggling switches to determine which one controls which wire. Install a wire nut on each wire that isn't used. The Red wire is another black (hot) wire that is switched.

Based on your response: Switch the breaker off. Check wires to make sure they aren't hot. Connect a wire nut to each black wire separately. Connect the red wire to the light black wire. Connect the white to white and copper to ground.

 

[WildCard999]

Here is the switch.
https://imgur.com/a/gf8Vl

 

[WildCard999]

So the black wire on the bottom of the wall switch is controlling the power to the light as it only gets hot in the ON position. The red wire is constantly hot. Knowing this which wire does the black switch wire connect to?

 

[WildCard999]

So pretty much trial and error and I somehow managed to get it working, here's how its wired...

-White (light) to White box.
-Green (light) to Copper box (ground).
-Black (light) to Red box.
-Black (box) to Black box.

Thanks everyone for your help, hopefully this will help someone else going from a ceiling fan to light.

 

[mjslakeridge]

Glad you got it figured out. Make sure you put wire nuts on any wires not being used in the junction box. The red wire should have been the switched power wire, but something about the configuration you described didn't seem quite right.

 

[WildCard999]

Every single wire in the junction was used so there all covered but I may go back and wrap them in electrical tape just to keep it a bit safer.

 

[mjslakeridge]

Good Idea with the electrical tape. I have a situation with 2 wall switches controlling some external and internal lights that I have on a timer (known as a 3 way switch), that I have to figure out the wiring. There was a segment on "Ask This Old House" that covered the same situation that I will have to re-visit.