OT: Residential electrical help Options

[flipb]

I replaced a chandelier in my house today and it didn't go quite as smoothly as planned. Help me figure out how badly I screwed things up.

Our house was built in 1959, but the wiring to this fixture appeared newer. There was a chandelier on a dimmer switch in our dining room, and I bought a new one to replace it. The new one weighs less than the old one, so I wasn't worried about the fixture box holding it - and the mechanical side of the install went fine.

I was expecting it to be simple enough... to find Hot, Neutral, and Ground inside the fixture box. Discovering that it was more complicated, I tried to wire the new one the same way I found the old one wired.

Inside the box were FOUR sets of hot & neutral. The way I found it wired to the old chandelier (and the way it's now wired to the new chandelier) is as follows:

1. 3 Black wires and one White wire were connected with a wire nut.
2. A Black, a white, and a lead to the chandlier are connected in a wire nut
3. A white, another white, and the other lead to the chandelier are connected via a third wire nut

I've also tied the grounds together, and I'm fairly sure that's done properly.

Once I had it wired, the first time I tried to turn on the light, it blew the circuit breaker. I decided that I must've accidentally reversed the white wires from B and C, above, so I switched them and tried again.

Now the fixture works, but the dimmer doesn't dim... as soon as it comes on, the bulbs are at full brightness. The other strange thing is that until I installed a light bulb in the chandelier, nothing else on that circuit was getting power. I can tell because the Oven is on the same circuit and the display was blank until I put the first bulb into the chandelier.

Did I blow the dimmer switch when I had it miswired? Or do I have it miswired now, preventing the dimmer from working? And why are there four sets of wires coming through this box?

Need help from any electrical geniuses to determine whether I can repair this myself or if it's time to call an electrician.

Thanks.

Flip

[flipb]

To recap:

There are four black wires coming into the fixture box. I've identified that one of them is always hot (i.e., the main lead from the panel).

When I join the "always hot" to one of the other black wires, one of the white wires becomes Hot. I presume this is the switched wire for the chandelier. However, as long as these two black wires are joined, the white wire is hot regardless of the position of the dimmer - even if the dimmer is off.

I have not yet found any wires that seem to "care" whether the dimmer is switched on or off.

[windforfun]

To recap:

There are four black wires coming into the fixture box. I've identified that one of them is always hot (i.e., the main lead from the panel).

When I join the "always hot" to one of the other black wires, one of the white wires becomes Hot. I presume this is the switched wire for the chandelier. However, as long as these two black wires are joined, the white wire is hot regardless of the position of the dimmer - even if the dimmer is off.

I have not yet found any wires that seem to "care" whether the dimmer is switched on or off.

Please read my previous posts carefully.

Replace the dimmer with a regular switch.

You may have some old wiring somewhere that's been sheet-rocked over.

Connect the always on or hot black wire to all of the other black wires.

The dimmer switched return wire (white or black) should now be active.

The white wire you mentioned will be hot if the circuit is loaded (made complete with a lamp plugged into an outlet perhaps).

Call an electrician if you've lost interest.

I used to work with a guy who had a sign in his shop that read: "Boner Electric - We Guarantee The Longest Shorts In Town." No shit.

Good luck & don't worry, 120 V won't kill you.