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12 Volt Wiring question?

Midnight Rider

Well-known member
Hey Ya’ll,
I removed my two kitchen pendent lights above the island to replace them. When I pulled first light down the wiring is in this little hole and the wiring all came unattached before I could get a picture of it to reassemble it correctly? So now I have a back and white wire and a green wire that have to be put back into this little two sided wire clamp down thing? Does the green wire coming out of the roof go with the black or white wire In the little clip down thing? The little clip down thing has two side by side clamps, does it matter what side of the clip black and white go in?
thanks
 

Oregon_Camper

Forum Admin
Staff member
Green/White is normally POS....white is normally NEG. Just test with a volt meter to ensure yours is correct.

If you could post a picture, that might help us see your situation.
 

Midnight Rider

Well-known member
Green/White is normally POS....white is normally NEG. Just test with a volt meter to ensure yours is correct.

If you could post a picture, that might help us see your situation.
OC,
Here are some pictures. Wiring for the kitchen pendant lights in my 2024 295MK Paradigm.
So there are two pendants hanging down, pictures are of the light wiring closest to the door, light #1, I have pictures of how these look and go back together because they came out attached and I will reattach per the pictures.
The Second light, light #2 the one furthest from the door is differently wired than the first light and it came apart when I pulled it gently down from the ceiling hole it was in. light #1 in the pictures has two sets of three wires, with two different little clip wire holders, light number #2 has just a two wire clip and a green wire coming out of the roof hole loose from the clip so the wires are all loose for light #2?
So my question is light #2? How do I rewire it? There are two spots on the clip for wires, a left and a right side, and I have a white a black wire coming off my new lamp and a green wire coming out of the roof. What side of the clip gets white, what side gets black, and what side gets the extra green wire with black or white? I am assuming the green wire needs connected to light #2? When I pulled out the wires they where all disconnected from the clip so I assume the green wire was connected? but never saw how it looked when hooked correctly?
Hope this paints a better picture of the issue I am trying to solve.
thanks for the help!
 

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Terri&KevinGates

Well-known member
I’m going to say you have a connector floating around in your ceiling. The second light should have had 2 just like the first one. The second light will get wired just like the first. Black from the lamp hooks with the green/white and the white from the lamp goes with white from the ceiling. The first lamp has 2 green/white and white because one of each run back to the second lamp.
 

BryanValRox

Well-known member
OC,
Here are some pictures. Wiring for the kitchen pendant lights in my 2024 295MK Paradigm.
So there are two pendants hanging down, pictures are of the light wiring closest to the door, light #1, I have pictures of how these look and go back together because they came out attached and I will reattach per the pictures.
The Second light, light #2 the one furthest from the door is differently wired than the first light and it came apart when I pulled it gently down from the ceiling hole it was in. light #1 in the pictures has two sets of three wires, with two different little clip wire holders, light number #2 has just a two wire clip and a green wire coming out of the roof hole loose from the clip so the wires are all loose for light #2?
So my question is light #2? How do I rewire it? There are two spots on the clip for wires, a left and a right side, and I have a white a black wire coming off my new lamp and a green wire coming out of the roof. What side of the clip gets white, what side gets black, and what side gets the extra green wire with black or white? I am assuming the green wire needs connected to light #2? When I pulled out the wires they where all disconnected from the clip so I assume the green wire was connected? but never saw how it looked when hooked correctly?
Hope this paints a better picture of the issue I am trying to solve.
thanks for the help!
My take is that the connectors you show in your picture are just multi wire splices. It would appear that they are using these to daisy chain(extend) the circuit to another load.
So the 3 wires in a splice would be the supply, the supply extension to X and of course one side of the light circuit.
One of these splices would be supply and the other splice would be ground. A meter would quickly validate which is which for sure.
As others have stated, the solid white appears to be ground and the wire with the tracer stripe would be supply.
Use a meter to validate.
It would make sense if your other connection ( end of the line) only has two ports, my take one coming from the extension of the other splice and one port for the fixture. Just honor powers in one splice and grounds in the other.
Hope this makes sense!
You should run this by Alliance Service to be sure.
 

Midnight Rider

Well-known member
My take is that the connectors you show in your picture are just multi wire splices. It would appear that they are using these to daisy chain(extend) the circuit to another load.
So the 3 wires in a splice would be the supply, the supply extension to X and of course one side of the light circuit.
One of these splices would be supply and the other splice would be ground. A meter would quickly validate which is which for sure.
As others have stated, the solid white appears to be ground and the wire with the tracer stripe would be supply.
Use a meter to validate.
It would make sense if your other connection ( end of the line) only has two ports, my take one coming from the extension of the other splice and one port for the fixture. Just honor powers in one splice and grounds in the other.
Hope this makes sense!
You should run this by Alliance Service to be sure.
Does it matter what side you put wires in the clip or just white with white on one side and green with black on the other correct?
never used a volt meter before but I’ll pick one up tomorrow.
keep ya posted
 

BryanValRox

Well-known member
Does it matter what side you put wires in the clip or just white with white on one side and green with black on the other correct?
never used a volt meter before but I’ll pick one up tomorrow.
keep ya posted
So, it might be helpful for context if you supplied a picture or pictures of the clip and wiring that you have left to connect.
I hesitate to comment further without knowing the bigger picture. The previous pictures in you post were helpful .
 

Midnight Rider

Well-known member
Ok,
So I did what you both suggested! I fished out all the wires in the roof and I took pictures to show better examples.
- First picture is the right and left side. The Right side I have pictures of and I know what to do.
- Left side is my Question on how to put back together?
- The last picture I am holding up the lamp wires black and white.

- So as I see it I put the white cord from the lamp and put it in white roof wire clip.
- Put the Black lamp wire in the Green Roof Wire Clip.
- Clip down the clips.
- Test Lamp
- Replace Wires in roof
- Replace Lamps
- Pray I don't burn the SOB Down! :)

Thanks in advance!
 

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BryanValRox

Well-known member
Ok,
So I did what you both suggested! I fished out all the wires in the roof and I took pictures to show better examples.
- First picture is the right and left side. The Right side I have pictures of and I know what to do.
- Left side is my Question on how to put back together?
- The last picture I am holding up the lamp wires black and white.

- So as I see it I put the white cord from the lamp and put it in white roof wire clip.
- Put the Black lamp wire in the Green Roof Wire Clip.
- Clip down the clips.
- Test Lamp
- Replace Wires in roof
- Replace Lamps
- Pray I don't burn the SOB Down! :)

Thanks in advance!
Based on your comments and pictures,I would agree with your assessment. I would test before reinstalling just to be sure.
 

Midnight Rider

Well-known member
I bought a multi multi meter. How do I test the wires?
I watched a video on how to use it? I can barely make it work to read a socket? I hate electricity!
 

Midnight Rider

Well-known member
Based on your comments and pictures,I would agree with your assessment. I would test before reinstalling just to be sure.
Please walk me through how to test a wire and what am I testing for?
I know how to test a plug with the meter.
What am I testing for when I test a wire prior to turning it on ?
 

BryanValRox

Well-known member
Please walk me through how to test a wire and what am I testing for?
I know how to test a plug with the meter.
What am I testing for when I test a wire prior to turning it on ?
At a high level, install your red and black meter leads in the correct port on the meter. In your case you want to check DC volts, so be sure your leads are in what is normally marks volts and common. red volts, black common.
Ensure your meter dial is set to measure DC voltage.
Hook your red lead of the meter to the green wire and the black lead of the meter to the white wire. Turn your light switch circuit on and your meter should read 12 volts plus or minus. (Ensure you dimmer switch if you have on on this circuit, is set to full brightness).
If your meter happen to read minus 12 volts, your leads or the wires on the circuit are opposite of what we suspected.
I assume your light worked fine before you disassembled them, so likely the polarity is fine and you just need to reconnect them as previously discussed.
If you are not comfortable with electricity, you should call in a pro.
 

Midnight Rider

Well-known member
Than
At a high level, install your red and black meter leads in the correct port on the meter. In your case you want to check DC volts, so be sure your leads are in what is normally marks volts and common. red volts, black common.
Ensure your meter dial is set to measure DC voltage.
Hook your red lead of the meter to the green wire and the black lead of the meter to the white wire. Turn your light switch circuit on and your meter should read 12 volts plus or minus. (Ensure you dimmer switch if you have on on this circuit, is set to full brightness).
If your meter happen to read minus 12 volts, your leads or the wires on the circuit are opposite of what we suspected.
I assume your light worked fine before you disassembled them, so likely the polarity is fine and you just need to reconnect them as previously discussed.
If you are not comfortable with electricity, you should call in a pro
Thanks a ton!
Im Comfortable with the meter now. How to hook it up, learned settings and how to test better. Did some practicing. I was just having trouble finding a video on YouTube that could explain to me what you did?
Now I understand how and why to test it.
I will hook it up Thursday night and let you know.

One last question on this subject?
-Does it make a difference what side of the clip the wires go in? Example ( wire from roof needs to be on left side of the clip and lamp wire needs to be on right side of clip?) Or just as long as one is on one side and one is on the other I am ok?

keep ya posted.
 

BryanValRox

Well-known member
Than

Thanks a ton!
Im Comfortable with the meter now. How to hook it up, learned settings and how to test better. Did some practicing. I was just having trouble finding a video on YouTube that could explain to me what you did?
Now I understand how and why to test it.
I will hook it up Thursday night and let you know.

One last question on this subject?
-Does it make a difference what side of the clip the wires go in? Example ( wire from roof needs to be on left side of the clip and lamp wire needs to be on right side of clip?) Or just as long as one is on one side and one is on the other I am ok?

keep ya posted.
It doesn’t matter, the clip is a splice, which is designed to connect the wires together when you lock it down.
 

Midnight Rider

Well-known member
At a high level, install your red and black meter leads in the correct port on the meter. In your case you want to check DC volts, so be sure your leads are in what is normally marks volts and common. red volts, black common.
Ensure your meter dial is set to measure DC voltage.
Hook your red lead of the meter to the green wire and the black lead of the meter to the white wire. Turn your light switch circuit on and your meter should read 12 volts plus or minus. (Ensure you dimmer switch if you have on on this circuit, is set to full brightness).
If your meter happen to read minus 12 volts, your leads or the wires on the circuit are opposite of what we suspected.
I assume your light worked fine before you disassembled them, so likely the polarity is fine and you just need to reconnect them as previously discussed.
If you are not comfortable with electricity, you should call in a pro.
Bryan,
We Got‘er Done!😀
I really like the new look, and a much softer light package over all. Attached link and Pics below.
Thanks a ton for sticking with me on this. I gained new knowledge around 12V Electricity, Volt meter, and how to work with more confidence.
I really appreciate all the help. YTM!

 

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BryanValRox

Well-known member
Bryan,
We Got‘er Done!😀
I really like the new look, and a much softer light package over all. Attached link and Pics below.
Thanks a ton for sticking with me on this. I gained new knowledge around 12V Electricity, Volt meter, and how to work with more confidence.
I really appreciate all the help. YTM!

You are very welcome, and the end result looks great!
Congratulations on your project!
 
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