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[Big Steel]

So here is the story.  I was going to do a simple ceiling light switch to one that my girlfriend wanted.  I am pretty handy around the house having been able to install a dishwasher, toilet, hot water tank and some other things, but this simple little changing of a ceiling light has got me stumped.
  I had everything taken apart and was ready to install the new light, when I saw this red wire, I had figured that it would be just White, black, and green.  Simple.  But this red wire was there and it was also hooked up to the switch.  SO I figured that I would just hook everthing up the way is was and that would be good.  I get it hooked up, go to turn on the breaker and the switch starts smoking and the breaker cut.  So I burnt out the switch.  No biggy, I went and got another.  Then when I get home, I take a look at the way it was wired.  So I think( bad idea) that if the red is working the switch, it would be a hot wire, the white are not, so I redo my wiring on the light fixture, move the red wire over and splice it in with the blacks.  Hook up the switch and try it again.  Turn the breaker on and the light lights up but the switch does nothing.  The only way to shut the light off was to turn off the breaker.  So I try it the first way again, with the red hooked up to the white, that is the way it was hooked up when I took everything apart.  Turned on the breaker the light comes on, turn the switch off, and it trips the breaker.  Now I am no electrician, this has got me baffled!!   So I am in need of some help.  I have taken everything apart again and capped off the wires.  So the only thing not working is the ceiling light!!   
  Any suggestions, keeping n mind that I have no idea what I am doing with this now. I am at a lose, and don't want to fry and more wires on the walls.  Someone want some spring and Sockeye???   COME HELP ME PLEASE!!!!  If you live close and have a little spare time that is!!

[Big Steel]

Scruffy you rock, everything you said made a lot of sense and it now works like a charm!!  Thank you very much, and I will let you know how I do next week on a certain river!!

[Big Steel]

I know that certain river

Not the one that you are thinking of!!!  I am trying another one, unless we get some rain, then I will try the certain river that you are talking about!!

[scruffy]

no problem  glad to hear you fixed her up.

[mrking]

Would you mind outlining what scruffy saidI have always wondered what the red wire is for. Does it have to do with three way wiring?

[Big Steel]

Would you mind outlining what scruffy said have always wondered what the red wire is for. Does it have to do with three way wiring?

I should really let Scruffy deal with this one, as I am not the best with this kind of thing, obviously!!   Anyhow, what I did with Scruffy's coaching was attached white to white, capped off the 2 black wires and attached the red wire in the ceiling to the 2 blacks from the fixture.  Then in the switch I attached the red wire to the top and the black "hot" wire to the bottom of the switch.  tried it out and it worked.  Here is a photo of the wrong way to wire it!!


turns out that when I had the black wires connected together, I had the circuit open constantly, thus the only way to shut the light off was to turn off the breaker.  The red wire comes in as an intermittent power source.  Thus the red wire turns to a hot hire when the switch is turned on.  So I capped off the 2 black wires from the ceiling, and as I stated earlier just connected the red wire from the ceiling to the 2 black wires from the fixture.  I think that is it, but I am sure the Scruffy could explain it better.  It does have something to do with a three way thing!!  But I can't really answer that question properly!!

[scruffy]

so here's what the red wire in BS instance was and this is very common in all residential applications as it's used to bring pwr over to an area that's hard to get at or maybe it was quicker and made sense at the time of installion due to many variables. we have a switch box and ceiling box, in the switch box he has two set's of wires coming in one 3 wire and the other a 2 wire the 2wire has a blk and a wht wire we don't count the bare copper as this is a bond,the 3 wire has an extra wire the red one the 2wire is pwr coming in and the 3wire will carry pwr out and a switch leg  The red wire is used as a switch leg and the black wire  (pwr) is tied  through to power something else in his place the whites are always tied together as never to mix them up or you'll have a dead short meaning breaker will trip, know imagine the same set of wires in the ceiling box but the 2wire leaving that box will pwr something else and no 3 wire leaving it ends in the ceiling box. In 240volt application the red wire is used for many things etc... switching/extra cct/travelers for 3way switching/triggering of sensors like smoke detectors so care must be taken when another wire colour is being used especially in commercial application's where's there's more colours.