Something electrical, i've never seen???

[pauls340]

I want to move this ceiling light six feet. When I opened it I found a 12-3 romex going to the 3way switch, a 12-2 romex goes to this light box where I find the black and white wires, from the switch connected together with a jumper to the black side of the light. Never saw that before. ALSO, that switch is on circuit #14, the other two romex on right are on #8. Can I use a junction box to move the 12-3? Is it possible for power to come from two different circuits? Thanks

 

[Full Size 66]

I do not know what they call that kind of circuit but I think it is so you can light that bulb from two locations / separate circuits. I could be full of it too!

 

[Speedy Petey]

Just leave that box as a junction box, then run the same size **/2 cable to a new light location. Leave all the splices and just splice the new white and black to the same place that light is wired to now.

 

[Tim The Tool Man]

Just leave that box as a junction box, then run the same size **/2 cable to a new light location. Leave all the splices and just splice the new white and black to the same place that light is wired to now.

+1 but do not mud over the original box location or hide it in a finished ceiling. Put a cover plate over it so it remains accessible.

 

[ket-tek]

+1 but do not mud over the original box location or hide it in a finished ceiling. Put a cover plate over it so it remains accessible.

Haha, in my old house the living room had a turkey trot mud finish on the ceiling, and there was a place where it had obviously been patched by the previous owner. I wanted to add a ceiling fan and noticed this patch was dead center between two walls. I turned the light switch for the room on/off and use a non-contact wire tester and is beeping right over the spot. I turned off the switch and started tapping on it with a hammer and a whole chunk poped out and reveled a ceiling box with live wiring in it, the black had a little black tape on it and the white and ground were just pushed back in it bare.

Here' the best part *(or worst actually), with the mud fell out a big wad of paper towels. The guy had used balled up towels to fill the void when piling up the sheetrock mud in there.

I just don't get what some people are thinking. I get not everyone is familiar with basic home repair, and no everyone had a father that taught them some useful life skills for home/car ownership as many here had, but geeze stuff like this is just mind blowing to me that it got done this way..

 

[Falcon67]

>but geeze stuff like this is just mind blowing to me that it got done this way..

I was watching Property Bros on HGTV this week. They opened a kitchen wall that was part of an older DIY project (at least that was the talk). Inside was a 1" or so PVC vent stack that stopped under a cross brace in the middle of the wall and a nutted and taped up electrical junction with at least 4 cables. All stuffed in insulation and covered with drywall. The insulation around the electrical mess appeared to be scorched. Only by the grace of God on that one, really. If the design hadn't called for that wall to come out - who knows.

 

[p912s]

Just leave that box as a junction box, then run the same size **/2 cable to a new light location. Leave all the splices and just splice the new white and black to the same place that light is wired to now.

+1 but do not mud over the original box location or hide it in a finished ceiling. Put a cover plate over it so it remains accessible.

This is the way to go.

First house my wife and I owned we were redoing the drywall in the dining room. When we opened the wall we found an orange 16ga. extension cord that had been cut and used to connect a light switch to a wall sconce.

 

[pauls340]

To high-jack the high-jack and get back to the original topic...thanks for the help

 

[justsam]

When I opened it I found a 12-3 romex going to the 3way switch, a 12-2 romex goes to this light box where I find the black and white wires, from the switch connected together with a jumper to the black side of the light. Never saw that before.

Not sure I understand your description, but something does not sound right to me.

Clearly if all is working well, the easiest approach is to just extend the light power to the relocated fixture with 12/2.

What does not sound right is you describe the 12/3 black and white wires coming from the switch connected together with a black jumper to the black (brass) terminal of the light. Does this mean you have two blacks and one white wire nutted together? Does the one white wire have black tape on it per chance?

Where does the red wire from the 12/3 coming from the switch go or connect to?

Where is the mated 3 way switch, is it working properly?

I am not a fan of mixing different circuits in the same box, if you are doing work here anyway, I would put them in different boxes.

 

[pauls340]

The other 3way switch and light is upstairs at the landing for the garage door. The 12-3 wire runs between the two switches. The 12-2 from the basement switch up to the light has one black and one white wires that are actually tied together and a short black wire is jumpered to the black side of the light. I have never seen this. Tearing it apart tomorrow.

 

[justsam]

The other 3way switch and light is upstairs at the landing for the garage door. The 12-3 wire runs between the two switches. The 12-2 from the basement switch up to the light has one black and one white wires that are actually tied together and a short black wire is jumpered to the black side of the light. I have never seen this. Tearing it apart tomorrow.

So the 12/2 from the basement has both of it's conductors, the black and the white wire connected together, in effect making a single conductor? Are the black/white conductors from this same 12/2 connected together at the other end, which would be the basement switch box? In order for this to be working, than these have to be connected to the common terminal on the basement switch. Neutral for the light is not provided by this 12/2 romex so it is coming from elsewhere in the light fixture box. The mystery is why were the black/white conductors in the 12/2 tied together. Perhaps an open conductor?

Sounds like you are on it, perhaps helpful to look on line for the various 3 way wiring configurations.