No neutral at light fixture?

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Nelsonba

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Hello. Replacing a light fixture and I'm wondering if it makes sense for there to be no neutral wire. There was a short piece of white wire that just kind of fell out, but I can't find a bare wire where it would have been attached. Any ideas what might be going on? You can't see it in the picture, but that black wire is the only bare one I can find. Thanks
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Jadnashua

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Look at any wire bundles that have a wire nut or are taped together...the neutral is there, assuming it worked before. But, you may be opening up another can of worms...the insulation on some of that old wire may just crack and fall apart which may be why there's the tape in there. It gets worse beneath a light fixture, especially if it is a high wattage unit...the heat degrades the insulation faster. You're not supposed to switch the neutral, so neutral should be a white wire bundle, but depending on how the thing is wired, white could be part of the switch leg.
 

Cacher_Chick

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Until you pull the wires out so you can see what is there, we cannot tell. It is very likely that the lamp neutral was wrapped and taped around a neutral which is passing through the box. The connection does not need to be made on an open end of the wire.
 

FullySprinklered

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You'll have to dig around in there and identify the wires, but probably what you have is power in, power out, and a switch leg. Black to black on the power, white to white on the neutral, and a white wire tied into the black bundle which sends juice down to the switch, then back up to the light on the black wire. The white from the fixture would be tied in to the white bundle. It's hard to ID the wires by color on the old stuff.
 

DonL

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It probably does not have a neutral because back in the day it was called the Hot or Cold wire. :D
 
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