I need help to do this right.

[butterfryby]

Alright I have a decent understanding and respect for electricity so I know how to work with it safely...what I am not so good at is circuit theory and what to do when there are more wires there than should be.

So...I decided to change my light fixture in my downstairs bedroom...and ignored the sage advice of wiring it up like it was with the original fixture...mainly because it did not look very "to code". As far as I can tell someone tried to splice in a light and as an after thought, made it controllable from the wall switch by combining two black wires with a white wire and two white wires and somehow arranging them with the last black wire so that the light switch wire controls the main wire. None of them were properly capped off and they simply used electrical tape to cover the bare parts of the wires they wrapped around eachother. I am amazed there has not been an electrical fire, myself.

I will try to give as much information as possible. All I want to do is return it to it's original configuration. i.e. where the light switch worked or a better configuration.

I have 3 conduits in the fixture box. One directly from the light switch which is only hot if that specific breaker is on and the switch is flipped, one that is always hot...even when the Main circuit breaker is off which troubles me but I can work with it safely. And have been for the last couple of hours. The last conduit is cold and I believe it is the other half of the connection for the main power. Each conduit has all three wires, white, black and ground.

How do I re-splice the light back in so that the switch conduit can control the main power conduit? Which wires combined with what?

I would love your advice.

 

[bongos]

one that is always hot...even when the Main circuit breaker is off which troubles me but I can work with it safely.

That's the bit that troubles me too! If the cable is always hot, even with the main breaker off then I would suggest that someone has done something very wrong.
You should never, ever work on a hot circuit. I think you might be best calling an electrician in this instance. Not the most constructive advice I know. But your safety should be paramount and it sounds like you could have all sorts of problems lurking out there.

 

[butterfryby]

After refining my search for house-hold wiring diagrams I found the answer to my issue.

http://www.indepthinfo.com/wire-switch/light-switchoutlet.shtml

This was actually a wonderful help and I would like to recommend it to the electrical section of the DIYnot forum. After I located the outlet in the room that was in line with the light fixture it was a snap. You can bet that I clearly labeled the HOT white wire from the switch so that future lighting endeavors in this room will not be so frustrating. Also capped the wires off correctly so my installation is now "to code" rather than the previous mess.

The issue with the main line still being hot when the main breaker is off...is something I don't wish to look into because I agree...that is for a licensed electrician. This is an old house with weird wiring. I have a feeling that there is a secondary main switch in another breaker box somewhere but I have no idea where it could be...I have a feeling someone walled it up and then went and installed a new breaker box and just rewired the rest of the house and forgot about that circuit. For safety reasons I would also suggest no one work with live wires, however I am experienced enough to know what not to do. The layout of this one just threw me for a bit of a loop. I'd switched out lots of lights they just normally didn't share a line with a wall outlet.