Do You Know...

[Discomafia]

Which wire goes where? This is my 10 gallon light fixture, and the left wire is split in two, with one of them (bottom) having words on them. My question is should I join that to the black wire, or the white one? Much thanks!

 

[The-Wolf]

black is normerly live
I remember this as the second letter of black is L for live.

 

[Discomafia]

Thanks for the quick reply Wolf.

So the black wire for the bulb joins with the wire with words on it? The words read "(UL) SPT-1W 18AWGX2C VW-I 105ºC WATER RESISTANT E77975 WONDERFUL-D. Not sure what much of that means, but I hope it helps anyways.

 

[daza]

What sort of fixture is it and what type of lamp does it take? Where are the wires on the left coming from? Is it AC or DC?

In general black is not normally live. If it was black and red, then red would normally be live. When wires are paired like that, one of them often has a white line on it, the writing on yours may be instead of a line.

edit... the writing is telling you what type of wire it is. AWG = American Wire Gauge, which corresponds to the wire size, it's resistance and how much current it can carry.

 

[Vegan Peaches]

Well, there are only four combinations (black - black, black - white, black 2 - black, black 2 - white), so trial and error might be effective.

 

[simonbrown403]

Like daze said it depends on what type of fitting it is, if its a standard 230v, or 110v depening where you live and its a normal fiting with no circuts boards, it dosnt matter which way round they go.

 

[Discomafia]

What sort of fixture is it and what type of lamp does it take? Where are the wires on the left coming from? Is it AC or DC?

In general black is not normally live. If it was black and red, then red would normally be live. When wires are paired like that, one of them often has a white line on it, the writing on yours may be instead of a line.

edit... the writing is telling you what type of wire it is. AWG = American Wire Gauge, which corresponds to the wire size, it's resistance and how much current it can carry.

It's a fixture which holds two incandescent light bulbs. I've used two 25W bulbs before, and using compact flourescent bulbs work too. The wires on the left are coming from the plug... It is AC. And as for trying the four combinations, the three wrong combinations could cause a short circuit and blow the fuse. I stay in Canada so it should be 110v right? Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[daza]

If it is AC, and coming straight from a mains plug to the lamps then (as simonbrown says) you can connect it either way around and it will work.

I would connect black to black and the one with writing to white, just as good practice (ie. if you ever took the plug apart for whatever reason then you would remember which wire goes to which inside your fitting).

 

[Discomafia]

Thanks for the help daza. I've connected the wire with words with the black wire and its working perfectly.