Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - black wires attached through plastic box, light fixture stays on

Hello - although many posts have dealt with installing a new light fixture and then being unable to turn it off, I haven't seen my exact situation yet. I have 2 white wires, 2 black wires and 2 grounds coming from the wall in two different places in the metal electrical box. Also, inside the box is a small, plastic square-shaped box (approximately 1 x 1 1/2 inches) with four small holes in it, into which are attached the 2 black wall wires and the black light fixture wire - one hole was left empty. This box has writing on it which says "Heavy duty t-load charge 1/2 hp 125 vac).

When I removed the old fixture, the 2 white wires and the white fixture wire (3 in total) were twisted together and capped, which I've repeated. The 2 grounds were grounded to a screw on the electrical box, and there was no previous ground, so I've now grounded the new fixture's ground wire to the plate screw. I did not move either of the two black wires that came from the wall - they are still plugged into the same holes in this plastic box), and I plugged the new fixture's black wire into the same hole as the old fixture's.

However, when I flip the breaker, the light fixture comes on, but can't be turned off using either of the 2 switches that previously could control this light. I didn't touch the switches at all. A 2nd light that is controlled by the same 2 switches does turn on and off successfully.

The only other information that might be pertinent is that this house was built in the 1970's using low-voltage switches throughout. I'm wondering if this plastic box has something to do with these switches, and if anyone might be able to advise me how to fix this fixture!

Thanks in advance.

are you refering to this one ??

http://www.dale-electric.com/images/RR7-EZ_GE.JPG


if so there is two verison of that

the line connction stay inside the box while low voltage connection can be outside of the box

let us know what ya got on there

Merci, Marc

Hello! It is possible that's what's in there, but if so, the tube portion is not showing, and I can't see any wires coming out of it. It looks like your picture, but just the square box part with two large screws visible. I know that's a very vague description:confused:... is it a low-voltage transformer?

Tell us more about the old fixture. Was it a normal fixture that used normal line voltage bulbs?
The image posted by Marc is a low voltage relay. It is a switch remotely controlled by 12 volts from a central controller located somewhere in your house.

Spams:

the photo i did show to you that is what we called low voltage relay the low voltage part useally outside of the junction box and the line voltage connections are inside the junction box there are two verison on market one is momentary relay or latching relay most are momentary relay which you only hit the switch once it will click on one way and hit the switch again at diffrent postion it will cause the relay concat to move to either engage the power on or turn power off

most monentary concat switch are useally rocker type unforetally i don't have the photo of it at the min.,,

with the switch it useally have three wires there simair to the doorbell wire size.


they are not too bad to use but somehow very tricky to troubleshooting if not done right.

it will take time but you will end up get them fix

if need more info please do ask us one of the memebers here will be gald to help you with this one due some of us are electrician in this part of forum .

Merci,Marc

Yes, French227, the switch clicks when you turn it on, doesn't click when you turn it off, so it sounds like it is a low voltage relay. Also, in answer to Joed's question, the old fixture was a regular fixture that I could hook up anywhere - it took regular bulbs (max. 100w), the only thing I saw that was odd was that there was no ground, but I think that was because it was old. The new fixture is also just a standard fixture with regular bulbs.

Again, I can get power to the light, but not seem to get the switch to control it. Could it be that the black wire from the fixture is not attached properly into the relay? I just stuck it in (because the old one was very easy to just pull out. Should I be taking the relay apart somehow instead? As I said before, I tried the other hole in the relay, but then I'm getting no power. The holes are running vertically up and down. The 2nd and 4th holes down have the black wall wires inserted. The 3rd hole down hot wires the light fixture on, and the top hole I can't get any power to the light. Which hole do you advise working with (I'm almost positive I took the old wire out of the 3rd down).

Thanks so much, everyone!

Sounds more like a switch or controller problem.