They read to connect the black or red wire to the black wire. If you connect black to black, as usual, then what do you do with the red wire. Not discussed at all in the instructions.

That's weird. What brand are these sconces? Where did you get them? Can you post a photo of one (especially the connections)? Do you have a link to the instructions online, or can you scan the printed instructions?

https://www.houzz.com/products/oxygen-lighting-epoch-sain-nickel-with-hardback-fabric-shade-wall-sconce-prvw-vr~106478276?lid=80910918

I'd be leery of this too. As I said before, that's just plain weird.

You might try calling Oxygen Lighting (whoever they are). The contact info on their website is 201 Railhead Rd Fort Worth TX 76106 (877 607-0202). I don't see an email address or a contact form.

If you can't get any help from them, the only way I can think of to be sure of the connections is to disassemble the light and examine its wiring.

From what I can tell, this sconce uses a G24q-2 compact fluorescent lamp, so it will have an electronic ballast inside. Normally the ballast (fingers crossed) will have a wiring diagram printed on it. That diagram should tell you which wires are for 120v input.

If it turns out that the black and red wires are connected together internally, you can connect both black and red wires to the black wire in the junction box, white wire to jb white, ground to jb ground.

However, this might all be moot if you use an LED retrofit bulb. In most cases when you replace a fluorescent with an LED retrofit, you have to remove or bypass the light's internal ballast, or the LED will be damaged. In that case you'll probably be dismantling and rewiring the sconce anyway.

Removed, not sure I understand the difficulty here and so don't want to give bad advice.

Upon rereading why is anyone assuming this is not a standard switch leg?

Thanks Bry, Would you mind posting a pic or data sheet for a ballast with two hot input connections? I've installed a few "universal voltage" electronic ballasts, and in fact a couple of them (GE Prolines) are sitting on my bench right now. I've never seen one with more than 2 input leads, always the US standard white and black. Not saying they don't exist, just that I've never seen one.

One way or the other it could be a dual or universal voltage ballast, as I see that Oxygen's website lists 120v and 277v versions of these luminaires. But it lists them under separate catalog numbers, so I'd assume they either use different ballasts, or are wired differently.

I don't get why the installation instructions would say to "connect the black or red wire to the black wire" (OP's words) with no further guidance if one wire is for 120v and the other for 277v. According to the OP there's no advice at all on what to do with the extra wire, let alone "cap [it] off." Or am I missing something?

For now, I'm going to stick with the suggestion to dismantle the luminaire and look for a wiring diagram on the ballast.

I'd send it back unless I was ready to gut and rewrite it myself in the worst case. If the manufacturer handled the instructions in such a caviler manner, think what else they might have cut corners on.

Any sensible tech writer would never give the option of hooking up one or another of the wires. You'd just be instructed to hook black to black in one situation and cap off the red if unused or hook it to whatever in the other.

The socket would need to be changed for LED, wouldn't it unless it was a special LED made to use the same ballast? If not, I suppose it is possible for the dual use ballast to determine what kind of lamp is fitted. Electronic ballasts for fluorescent lighting do that for a wide range of lamps, but I've never seen it range to another lamp type entirely. Please, let's have a look at that ballast!

You can find LED retrofits for G24q-2 CFs, just as you can for linear fluorescents. So you wouldn't necessarily have to change the socket.

But! As with linear lamps, G24q-2 LED retrofits almost always require that you bypass the ballast. So unless Oxygen themselves are selling a conversion kit, I'd be skeptical that the typical homeowner can just pop in an LED G24 module and waltz away.

I agree 100% with your comment on the pitiful instructions. I was a little hesitant to say anything, but this situation reminds me a little (though it's probably not quite that bad) of the direct import Chinese stuff you find in bulk on Alibaba. With those, the wire color codes may be Asian or EU spec, even if it's truly designed for US 120v. The UL symbol (if any) may be counterfeit. It may arrive with no instructions at all, or instructions in barely comprehensible "Chinglish." It's cheap, but for installing and using it, you're on your own.