Install Wiring For a Ceiling Light
Installing wiring in a finished room might make you feel like grabbing a sledgehammer and knocking holes in the drywall. Just getting the wire from one point to another can seem like an impossible task. Thank goodness for attic access and hollow walls. Installing wiring for ceiling light requires some basic electrical knowledge. Residential construction commonly uses nonmetallic (NM) cable because it is easier to install than individual electrical wires.
Instructions
1. Create the opening for the ceiling light. Trace the template provided with the "old work" ceiling junction box. Cut along the trace line using a dry wall or keyhole saw. The "old work" box design allows it to attach to drywall without the need for nails or other fasteners. Wings attach to the back of the box with screws. By turning the screws, the wings flip up behind the drywall and clamp it into place.
2. Turn the lighting circuit off at the main breaker panel. Test to verify that the power has been disconnected properly. At the switch location, remove the switch cover plate, exposing the wiring and the light switch. Touch one prong of an electrical tester to a screw on the right side of the switch and touch the other prong to any metal on the electrical box. If the tester does not light up, then the power has been disconnected correctly.
3. Remove the switch from the switch box by loosening the screws at the top and the bottom of the switch. Loosen the screws on the right side of the switch and remove the wires from beneath the screws. Set the switch aside. Locate the white wires inside the switch box and the bare copper wires. Remove the wire connectors from the two separate sets of wire and pull them apart.
4. Fish a length of 12/2 NM cable from the switch location to the ceiling light location. From the attic, identify the wall of the switch location. If there are NM cables running from the attic down the wall into the switch box, then feed the fish tape along the original NM cable and out the switch box. If no cables run down the wall to the switch box, you need to bore a ¾-inch hole through the top plate of the wall using a ¾-inch spade bit. Feed the fish tape through the top of the wall, down the wall and out the switch box. Tie a length of 12/2 NM cable onto the fish tape and secure it with electrical tape. Pull the fish tape and cable up through the wall into the attic.
5. Lay the wire across the attic to the ceiling light opening. NM cable is not required to be placed inside the conduit and is safe to lie across the attic.
6. Connect the wiring to the ceiling light. Pull the NM cable through a knockout at the back of the ceiling junction box and attach the junction box to the ceiling. Strip a length of sheath from the NM cable using a dual NM wire cutter/stripper exposing the black, white and bare copper wires. Strip ½ inch of insulation off both the black and white wires. Wrap the bare copper wire to the green ground screw located inside the ceiling junction box and tighten the screw. Follow the manufacturer's directions and install the light fixture to the ceiling.
7. Reconnect the wires inside the switch box and reconnect the switch. Strip the sheath from the 12/2 NM cable exposing the black, white and bare copper wires. Strip a ½ inch of insulation off both the black and white wires. Locate the two original white wires inside the electrical box. Connect the white wire from the new cable together with the two original white wires by twisting a red wire connector onto all three wires. Repeat this connection for the two original bare copper wires inside the switch box and the bare copper wire from the new cable. Push both sets of wires into the back of the switch box. Wrap one black wire around a screw on the right side of the switch. Wrap the remaining original black wire and the new black wire around the remaining screw on the right side of the switch. Tighten the screws to hold the wires onto the switch. Push the switch back into the box and attach it to the top and the bottom of the box. Cover the switch with the single gang switch plate cover.
8. Turn the circuit back on at the main electrical panel.
Tags: bare copper, , bare copper wires, black white, ceiling light