The new pic seems to confirm the wiring.

The added wire at the switch is probably tagged to the outlets.

Probably have a tripped breaker causing all your outages. Due to the spark (grounding of the hot wire) when removing the fixture.

I replied, but I'll copy reply here too.

Given your limited tester and limited knowledge it will be hard for me to help.

First I want to confirm, at the switch you have one black wire and one white wire connected to the two screw terminals, correct?

How I would do it if I had no tester is connect two of the three Romex wires together with the switch turned off. Restore power at the tripped/off breaker see if your outlets regain power. If not try again with different pairing (turning off power at each iteration). There are three possible combinations, you just need to find which one feeds through. Once you find the ones that feed through the remaining white and black will be your switch leg.

Once you've identified your feed through you will then connect the white from the switch leg to the two black wires that feed through. Those get tucked in the back of the box and will not be used on the fixture. The fixture is then connected to the two joined white wires, and the single black wire, BLK to BLK and white to white. All grounds are connected together and connected to green.

^^^

quote:

There is one white and one black going to the switch and one black wire from the switch to the two plugins.

Looks to be three.

Need pictures of switch. Also before picture of wiring at box without the light in the way. Also, where's the sixth conductor?

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
First I want to confirm, at the switch you have one black wire and one white wire connected to the two screw terminals, correct?

It was very difficult to get a photo of the switch, but below is as good as I can get. One black and one white wire attached to the terminals and one black wire that cones out of the back of the switch at the top which may be hard to see in the photo. I have no idea where that wire goes. I didn’t think about looking at that before I put everything back together.

Gary, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to help with out getting a better look at the whole set up. Did that white wire that is by itself have it's companion black wire cut off? If so was there a single white wire connected to the fixture's black wire?

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Gary, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to help with out getting a better look at the whole set up. Did that white wire that is by itself have it's companion black wire cut off? If so was there a single white wire connected to the fixture's black wire?

I can only see an inch or two up thru the hole in the ceiling, but it looks and feels like it is just a single white wire. I didn’t pay that much attention to what that wire was attached to and I have no photos that show that, but looking at one photo I didn’t post, I think it might have been attached to two black wires coming from the two ballasts and attached with black tape, but I could be wrong.

Whoever wired that didn't do it by the book. Best guess is that it's a feed through to the outlets and works similar to a dead end switch. Try black to black, white to white, but the single white going to fixture black. Don't use the two black wires. Color the single wire black, blue, or red with a sharpie. That now colored wire will be the hot, and the two whites will be the neutral.

Test everything before actually installing the fixture. Also depending on the fixture it may also need a box installed. You can tell because there will be a 1/2" knockout present on the back of the fixture and an enclosed wiring compartment.
Honestly there should be a box installed anyways because you can't fit three wires through a Romex connector.

Given the limited experience, I'd recommend having a licensed electrician do it. It's hard for me to guess what is there from the internet.

Sounds to me as like the single white wire was used to run power to the light from your switch which maybe explains the random white wire showing up in your light box. The black wire in the back of your switch is (wrongly) used as a constant hot somewhere else. Does this go to your outlets? Your switch may have fried from the overload...

quote:

Given the limited experience, I'd recommend having a licensed electrician do it. It's hard for me to guess what is there from the internet.

^^^^^^^^
This. Since the service call itself will be over a hundred bucks find other things for him to do while he is there.

Think I figured it out from your closeup pic. The 2 black wire nuts originally were nothing more than a splice for another circuit happening inside your light box. If you look, one nut only has the 2 black (hot) romex wires in it and nothing else. The single white wire run from your switch is spliced with the black (hot) wires attached to the light with an orange nut. The neutral (white) wires for your light are spliced with the other neutrals on the different circuit with the black nut. Basically what I'm getting at is it looks to me like you have two different circuits converging on your light. Your power in (white wire) is on one circuit and your neutrals are connected to another. Not safe. If you're not comfortable I'd get someone to look at it ASAP

^^ If it is infact that then he can not keep the light and would need to get a light with built in switch. He can not use a hot from one circuit and a neutral from another circuit. It is not safe. I find it unlikely that is the case. I've seen it before, but very few times. I'd guess it's possible.

He posted a picture of the switch, the white is not tied to the feed, it's the switch leg. On the picture you can see the black is going to the outlet from the rear stab in.

Skins, my assumption was that the power in wire and the rear stab are on the same side of the switch keeping solid power to the stab in regardless of the switch position. The single white is just power out to the light. If the rear stab was on the opposite side the outlets would have power only when the light was on.

Are we even allowed to say Skins anymore??

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Whoever wired that didn't do it by the book. Best guess is that it's a feed through to the outlets and works similar to a dead end switch. Try black to black, white to white, but the single white going to fixture black. Don't use the two black wires. Color the single wire black, blue, or red with a sharpie. That now colored wire will be the hot, and the two whites will be the neutral.

Test everything before actually installing the fixture. Also depending on the fixture it may also need a box installed. You can tell because there will be a 1/2" knockout present on the back of the fixture and an enclosed wiring compartment.
Honestly there should be a box installed anyways because you can't fit three wires through a Romex connector.

Given the limited experience, I'd recommend having a licensed electrician do it. It's hard for me to guess what is there from the internet.

I’ve printed your email and a couple of your posts here and will take some time to digest them and figure out if I want to try your suggestions. I was hoping this thread would simplify things for me, but my thoughts again turn to trying to find an electrician. Last time I had an electrician, it took 3 months to find one and the only reason I found one is cause the electric company wanted me to change the box the meter is attached to. The box is about 1500 feet from the Pacific ocean and was badly rusted. After about 3 months, the electric company contacted me again and I told them no electrician would return my calls. All too dang busy. So, he found one for me. The guy had to drive 60 miles one way to do the work, and with this pandemic going on, I’m not excited about having a stranger in the house.

You must live in BFE. I can usually get an electrician the next day. I have a lot of blue collar friends and they always know somebody. Stay away from whomever Big Box stores suggest.

quote:

Originally posted by DCFD4:
Think I figured it out from your closeup pic. The 2 black wire nuts originally were nothing more than a splice for another circuit happening inside your light box. If you look, one nut only has the 2 black (hot) romex wires in it and nothing else. The single white wire run from your switch is spliced with the black (hot) wires attached to the light with an orange nut. The neutral (white) wires for your light are spliced with the other neutrals on the different circuit with the black nut. Basically what I'm getting at is it looks to me like you have two different circuits converging on your light. Your power in (white wire) is on one circuit and your neutrals are connected to another. Not safe. If you're not comfortable I'd get someone to look at it ASAP

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
^^ If it is infact that then he can not keep the light and would need to get a light with built in switch. He can not use a hot from one circuit and a neutral from another circuit. It is not safe. I find it unlikely that is the case. I've seen it before, but very few times. I'd guess it's possible.

He posted a picture of the switch, the white is not tied to the feed, it's the switch leg. On the picture you can see the black is going to the outlet from the rear stab in.

I think it is unlikely I will try to mess with this. The light hasn’t worked for months and not having it for a few more days is no big deal. I’m still going to continue to try and digest the info in this thread and might mess with it a little, but I’m done with it for today, tho if there is anything someone wants to add, go ahead. I’ve ran an extension cord so I could use my toaster and coffee grinder, so I’m not inconvenienced any more than I was before I started this yesterday. The only thing I wish I did was pull all the wires out and took a photo before I disconnected them. 20/20 hindsight is a bitch. As is, even with the original photo which is quite large, it isn’t any easier to see what went to what.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
You must live in BFE. I can usually get an electrician the next day. I have a lot of blue collar friends and they always know somebody. Stay away from whomever Big Box stores suggest.

I don’t know where BFE is, but it’s 2 ½ hours to the nearest freeway and 80 miles to the nearest Walmart. I don't do big box stores. I wouldn’t have it any other way. There was a time I could get an electrician on the same day I called. Not any more. Grrrrr

Your closeup pic pretty clearly shows what goes where. I kinda gave a description above.

OK Cannon Beach or Astoria?