Help wiring a second light switch!?

Question

I have two lights I'm working with, and two switches in the same box. The wiring is in place from a while ago, and has worked before. The wire from above has a a white, red, and black. And the one from below has a white and black.

When I connect the red from above, and black from below, light A works as long as the 2 whites are twisted together. How do I get light B to work, the only wire left free is the single black wire?

Answer 1

Is this in a bed room dinning room?

Is light A only controlledd from that one switch

Where is light B?

I would GUESS from the limited info that

THe black and white from below is your power. Try to hook the red to the black from below. Keep the whites hooked together. Does that do anything for light B

If that doesn't work give more info or contact me.

Answer 2

Take the black from the bottom and put it to one s***w on each switch.

You can pigtail two short pieces of wire to that black with a wire nut and then put one wire to each switch.

Now put the top black to remaining s***w on one switch and put the top red to remaining s***w on other switch.

Now tie the two whites together and place a wire nut on them.

That is all there is.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Turn off the power, undo all of the connections, then connect the white wires together and put a wire nut on tight and place in the box against the back.  Take the single black from below,  use it to feed both switches, put the black from above on one switch, the red on the other. Then turn the power back on and verify that everything works as it should.  If it does not, then call a qualified professional electrician to do the work.  If it works right, turn  the power off and then put it all together.  

Answer 4

you have two single  circuit light fixtures so you have to do this,  one of the wires in the box below is a hot or supply wire.  usually it is the black wire (in the wire that has only a white and black).  All the white wires would be hooked together as you had them but the black from the supply would be connected to a s***w on both switches.  Usually this is accomplished by wire nutting 2 black wires to the one supply wire.  These two would be the supplies for the 2 switches.  Then you would hook the remaining wires, red to open s***w on one switch and black to the other switch and the lights should come on independently.

If this confuses you or you are afraid of doing it find someone who isn't or a electrician please so you do not electrocute yourself.

Answer 5

Who took this apart and when?  It's important to know how each light is wired and making assumptions then telling you what to connect where could be dangerous.  It certainly sounds like the black/white from below is a supply based on your test and the need to connect white to white to get light #1 to work.  But it could be a switch loop and the other cable (black, red, white) could be a three way switch loop.  Were there any wire nuts in the box before? Any jumpers from one switch to the other?  Were both of the old switches single pole or was one a three-way?

First, you need to understand the different ways to connect lights and switches.  Then you need to do a little archeology - pull the light down and look inside and see how wires are connected at the lights in order to figure out what you really have.

It could also be helpful to know where the black/white cable comes from - is there an outlet on the wall just below the switches? Does it have two cables in it - one bringing in power and one going out - like to your switches...