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Bathroom remodel where electrician wired the following:

  1. GFCI outlet (installed)
  2. Vanity light (not installed)
  3. Fan/light combo (installed)
  4. Shower light (installed)

There are four switches on the wall.

The vanity light fixture has 1 white, 1 black, 1 ground wire.

The box for the vanity light has 2 white, 2 black, 2 red, 2 ground.

I’m not sure how to install. I’ve installed ceiling fans with separate switches for fan/light and 1 red wire. Also installed another bathroom light with one set of wires including 1 red, but am stumped here.

Wall box for vanity lightenter image description hereenter image description hereenter image description hereenter image description hereenter image description here

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  • Does everything work in the bathroom? What are the switches for?
    – JACK
    Oct 26, 2020 at 20:13
  • Can you post photos of the inside of the switch box please?
    – ThreePhaseEel
    Oct 26, 2020 at 23:58
  • Everything works. Will post pics next. Thanks!
    – user124917
    Oct 27, 2020 at 1:38
  • Pics posted. Let me know if you need something different. From left to right:1st switch = Fan, 2nd = fan light, 3rd = shower light, 4th = vanity light.
    – user124917
    Oct 27, 2020 at 1:46
  • Is there a black that jumpers from switch to switch to switch?? If so, are there 2 wires with a hook around a single screw, 1 wire hooked around a screw & 1 stabbed into a hole in the back, or 2 straight in then clamped under a screw? Also, did you remove the wire nuts from the vanity box or did the electrician leave them that way?
    – FreeMan
    Oct 27, 2020 at 10:52

1 Answer 1

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The red wires are indeed unconnected

If you look at the red wire in the cable from the switch box headed to the vanity light and trace it, it, along with the red wires in some of the other cables, is capped off by itself as an unused "spare" wire, in accordance with what your electrician is saying. So, I would simply cap off both red wires in the vanity light box by themselves then connect all blacks together, all whites together, and all grounds together. You can then mount the fixture, turn the breaker back on, and enjoy your new vanity light!

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  • Does the way the right switch is wired, with two connections on one screw, and the insulation removed in the middle, comply with the latest NEC? I guess technically it is one wire on the screw. I have never seen this before except when grounding a metal box.
    – bigchief
    Nov 29, 2020 at 3:31
  • @bigchief -- it's kind of a borderline case, one could argue it violates 110.14(A) as the terminal isn't identified by the manufacturer for that use, but as you say, one could argue there is only one wire involved. (It doesn't seem to be a major reliability issue, though, so its kind of small fish to fry compared to backstabs, for instance)
    – ThreePhaseEel
    Nov 29, 2020 at 4:17

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