Light Switch Not Working

[MattL]

I am trying to put in a ceiling light but I cannot get the switch to work, the light just stays on, and obviously I didn't look at how the previous light was wired.

There is a white and black on the light, and three white, three black, and a red on the fixture. I capped the three black wires from the fixture and didn't connect them to the light. Then connected the white on the light to the white in the ceiling, and the light's black wire to the red in the fixture.

The light just stays on no matter what position the switch is in.

Any help is appreciated

[pgtek]

hi
what color is on the switch?

[John Nelson]

There is a white and black on the light, and three white, three black, and a red on the fixture I generally think that the words "light" and "fixture" are the same thing. But from your post, that's not what you mean. So what exactly do you mean by the words "light" and "fixture"?

[MattL]

Okay I will try to clarify what I wrote before.

In the ceiling (what I was calling the fixture before) there is three black twisted together, three white twited together and a single red. On my light there is one white and one black. On the switch, on the wall, there is one red connected to a screw and two black, one connected with a screw and the other looks like it is just pushed in the back.

The problem is that the light stays on constantly even when flicking the switch. I connected to black on the light to the red in the ceiling and the white on the light to the three whites in the ceiling.

Is there a list of terminology somewhere on the website, so I can at least use the correct terms?

Thanks for all the help,
Matt

[John Nelson]

Your descriptions of your connections are correct. This should have worked. I suspect that you have an accidental short either in the ceiling or in the wall box. Pull all the wires out of each box without disconnecting anything, and try again. If that fails, replace the switch.

[MattL]

I replaced the switch and everything worked fine.

Thanks for all the help,
MattL