Dumb question number 2

[lrubin28]

Starting a new thread to explain better...have a dining room light with 8 small "B" type bulbs. Light suddenly stopped working. Ceiling wires measured with multimeter showed 120V. I connected the light to a cord with a plug and plugged it in another room and it worked fine. So the light itself works.
I replaced the dimmer switch that had 2 wires with a new one of the same type that also had 2 wires. Still didn't work. Took out switch and measured with multimeter, it only measured about 80V. Looking deeper inside I found another wire in the back - so there is a white, black and a red although I thought there were only 2 connected wires originally
I'm guessing based on googling that there's an "always on" component that supplies the missing 40V?? If it matters, on the opposite side of the wall switch opening, is another dimmer switch for that room (kitchen). I have no idea if these two dimmer switches are related but I'm beginning to think they are, although previously they both worked fine.

My main question is how do I wire a dimmer switch to the 3 wires in the wall (red, black, white)??? I don't need a 3 way switch. Do I need to get a dimmer switch with 3 wires instead of 2 or does one of them just get capped? I'm pretty confused...any assistance greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[lrubin28]

For whatever its worth, I ended up using the black and the red wires, and capping the white wire by itself. Of course I ruined the 2 dimmer switches I had at home first, so I can't test totally test it, but I currently have a GFCI switch connected since it's the only switch I had lying around, and so far so good...