Wiring a chandelier?

Question

i am putting up a chandelier that i took down to paint the ceiling. In the ceiling i have one cable with a black, a white, and a ground wire. The chandelier has two gold wires. I have tried all sorts of ways of connecting these wires but nothing happens each time i try. I have checked that there is current running through the wires (and there is). I am not an electrician but i like to think i know a bit about what i am doing. any thoughts would be appreciated. thanks

Answer 1

The black should go to one of the chandeliers gold wires and the white to the other one. The ground should be connected to the down rod of the chandelier. You should be able to read 110 volts across the black and white wires when the wall switch is on. If there isn't 110 volts then something isn't connected somewhere else or the circuit breaker is tripped. If you don't have a meter get a cheap test light from Home Depot or the hardware store.

Answer 2

Installing a basic lighting fixture on 110 AC voltage is pretty easy because the you can generally connect one wire from the fixture to your Black (Hot) feed and the other to the White (Neutral) wire. If the fixture has a separate bare metal ground wire, that can be attach to the ground wire in the electrical box or fastened to a grounding s***w in the box if it's metal.

If the light still doesn't work, you may have some bad wiring in the fixture itself. You may to take it apart to inspect the leads and teh sickets or have a lamp shop rewire it.  This would be the last resort as it will be expensive.

Answer 3

The problem has to be with the chandelier wiring.  Maybe a wire was cut or or a connection loosened when you took down the chandelier.

There is another possibility.  Maybe the lamps are in series.  One busted light bulb means all will not light.  You can tell if your lamps are in series if the voltage of each bulb is just a fraction of your mains voltage.  For example, if your mains voltage is 120 volts and you have 10 lamps, then each lamp should be rated 12 volts (120/10).  A chandelier wired in parallel will have all bulbs rated at 120V.

Answer 4

First of all how much voltage are you getting from the black and white wire?  It must be about 120v give or take a few volts.  If you are getting at least 110v to then there is no reason a regular light fixture would not turn on when connected right.  My guess is that you don't have at least 110v coming in which could mean a number of things.  Maybe there's a loose connection somewhere.  Maybe your switch is bad, but first you need to find out exactly what voltage your getting to the light.  How are you measuring it?  Are you using just a hot stick to hear a beep or see a light?  If you are, then you need to get a voltmeter or a multimeter and get an actual reading.  Just make sure you have the setting on "AC Voltage" when measuring.  It might say VAC (volts ac) or it might just be a V with a wavey line over or under it.  Do not try to measure current (Amperage) the same way you measure voltage. You'll get an arc and possibly blow your meter.  It might say AAC (amps ac) on your meter.  Make sure you NEVER ever set it on that.  I only know of electronics technicians that would measure it that way, because the amounts are smaller and sometimes they need to be really accurate in their readings.  Usually to measure current, you need to turn the circuit on with the load or loads turned on, then use a clamp on ammeter to put it around the conductor (either the one that's connected to the circuit breaker for total amperage of circuit, or around any one of the wires that's going to your load or light for individual load readings.  I'm assuming that you probably just used a hot stick, because some hot sticks can also detect current, but will not give you an amount.  Anyways, in this case, there's no reason to be measuring current here.  If your chandelier was working before you took it down, then I can only come to one conclusion.  When taking it down, or when trying to put it back up, the weight of the chandelier might have pulled one or both of the black and white wires loose or even snapped it open if it's old enough wires.  Check the connection to the switch. Also check voltage to the switch.  Make sure the switch is in the OFF position, then measure. Put one lead on one s***w with the wire connected to it, and one lead on the other s***w that has the other wire connected to it.  You should read about 120volts. When measuring power going to the light, the switch should be in the ON position though.  If there's power going to your switch, but not to your light, you know your problem is between your switch and the end of the black and white wires.  That's all folks.  Hope I helped.  Let me know how it went.

Answer 5

Make sure the circuit breaker is OFF!  This is a time where an electrician might be better than burning down your house.  One possibility is that the chandelier itself is bad; then you'll pretty much have to junk it or get it professionally repaired/rewired.

Forget the ground wire if the chandelier only has two.  Using s***w on connectors, connect one of the gold wires to the black and the other gold wire to the white.  Make sure no bare copper wire is exposed that could touch anything and cause a short.

Make sure the bulbs are working by testing them in another lamp first.  Turn the circuit breaker back on.  If it doesn't work, turn the breaker off again and switch the white and black wires.  If that doesn't work, you need a pro.