Install a Ceiling Light Fixture With Transparent Coated Wiring
Ceiling light fixtures that hang from a chain or rod commonly use lamp wire. Lamp wire is manufactured to match the color of your light fixture or to be unobtrusive. Transparent coated wiring is commonly used with silver, white or chrome ceiling light fixtures and it can be hard to determine which wire is hot and which is neutral. Knowing install a ceiling light fixture with transparent coated wiring requires a little feeling.
Instructions
1. Turn off the electricity to the circuit that you will install your ceiling light fixture onto by turning off the breaker in the main electrical panel.
2. Assemble your ceiling light fixture according to the manufacturer's instructions. Locate your mounting hardware that came with your ceiling light fixture. The mounting hardware should include a fixture crossbar, a nipple, canopy, screw collar loop and nut and the chain or rod.
3. Attach the fixture crossbar to the ceiling junction box. The fixture crossbar consists of a flat piece of metal approximately 4 inches long by 1 inch wide with a round center hole and several other openings. The openings on the fixture crossbar depend on the manufacturer of your ceiling light. The crossbar will attach to the ceiling junction box with screws provided in the ceiling light kit.
4. Screw the nipple to the fixture crossbar. The nipple is a hollow metal tube that is threaded along the entire length of its exterior and screws into the center hole of the fixture crossbar.
5. Attach the chain to your ceiling light. A majority of ceiling lights will attach to the ceiling with a chain. However, your light may consist of a series of hollow rods. Whichever you might have, the principle of attaching the chain or rods will be the same. Using pliers and a soft cloth--to prevent damage to the finish of the ceiling light--attach the end loop of the rod or chain to the ceiling light and squeeze the loop to close it and secure it to the fixture.
6. Attach the opposite end of the chain or rod to the screw collar loop. The screw collar loop is a doughnut-shaped piece of metal with threads on the interior and exterior. The loop portion is connected to the screw collar at a 90-degree angle. Connect your chain or rod to the loop in the same manner you connected to the fixture in Step 5.
7. Thread the transparent coated wiring through the chain or rod and through the interior threaded opening of the screw collar loop.
8. Screw the nut onto the screw collar loop. The nut will hold the canopy in place after the light is attached to the ceiling. Thread the canopy onto the screw collar loop. The canopy will cover the ceiling junction box and all the wiring once the light fixture is installed. At this point, the parts should be in the following order: light, chain, screw collar with nut attached and canopy with transparent coated wiring threaded through all.
9. Wire the ceiling light fixture to the power supply wires in the ceiling junction box. The power supply wires consist of a black (hot) wire and a white (neutral) wire. Thread the transparent coated wire through the nipple you installed in Step 4. Feel the transparent coated wire. One side of the wire will be smooth and considered the neutral wire. Connect this smooth wire to the white power supply wire in the junction box by twisting an orange wire nut onto the two wires connecting them together. The other side of the transparent coated wire will have ribs running the entire length of the wire. This is the hot wire. Connect this ribbed wire to the black power supply wire in the same manner you connected the white wires.
10. Install the ceiling light fixture to the ceiling junction box. Push the excess wiring into the ceiling junction box and attach the screw collar loop to the nipple by screwing it onto the nipple clockwise. Slide the canopy up and over the ceiling junction box and tighten the nut attached to the screw collar loop to hold the canopy in place.
11. Turn on the electricity to the circuit by turning on the breaker in the main electrical panel.
Tags: ceiling light, screw collar, , screw collar loop, ceiling junction, fixture crossbar