I have a live wire in my basement that is just dangling with wire nuts on the wires. It is a 3 wire cable w ground. I also have a wire I disconnected when remodeling that fed an outlet and ceiling light. This was a 2 wire with a ground. Can I use a junction box to tie the two cables together to get power back to my outlet and ceiling light? Would I just put a wire nut on the extra wire from the 3 wire cable? I'm assuming this would be the color wire that the 2 wire doesn't have.Thanks!
We only have 120 or 240 volts in AMERICA, THAT'S 120 OR 240 Each leg carries 120 Volts What is this 110 you speak of ? If its a 240 line that breaker amp is at least 30 and you will burn your house down, if its a green wire than yes but make sure its a15 or 20 amp breaker, if 20 amp than make sure both cables are 12 Gage. Don't hook up a 20 amp breaker with 12 Gage wire tieing into a14 Gage wire or you will burn your house down.
The extra wire is probably the ground wire, and is either bare copper or copper with a clear plastic insulation on it. The other two wires are probably black. Simply connect the two wires in your wall box to the two black wires from the new fixture. Most likely the wiring in your house is the metallic ribbed BX cable. The simplest thing to do, is just to attach the ground wire to a screw holding the light fixture to the box. You really don't need to get into a whole major rewiring job right now, and this will work just fine. The far bigger problem you have, that you do not even realize, is that the new light fixture was probably made in China, and that poses a far more serious threat than anything. As for the light bulbs blowing as soon as you put them in, get your hands on a voltmeter and touch the probes across the two bare wire ends coming from the box for the light fixture. You should get a reading of 117 volts. It might just be that you have a bad batch of bulbs. Of course, make sure you are putting the proper type bulb into the light fixture.
The 3 wire feed could be a standard 110 volt wire with a white, a black, and a green wire. If that were the case, then yes, the black and white would complete the circuit to the light and outlet. However, the 3 wire line could also be a 220 volt line, in which case the result would be rapid destruction of the light and outlet, and then a subsequent fire. Not good. It's important to determine the power of the line: you'll need a meter to check it.
Hard to tell without looking at it. We don't even know for sure what country you are in. Or what size all the wires are. Or what they are connected to. Call an electrician for this one.
White to White, that's the neutral. Black to Black, that's the hot. Wirenut the Red. That's another hot. Stuart knows nothing. Each hot leg carries 110 not 220. It's only together they are 220. - taught electrical installation in HS
