Light switch with faux wood wall plate
There are two ways of wiring a lighting circuit. The first way is to bring the "Homerun Cable," the cable bringing power from the service panel/circuit breaker panel into the ceiling lighting outlet box. The second way is to bring the Homerun Cable into the device box. Which approach an electrician chooses depends on where the breaker panel is located. If the service panel is closer to the switch's location, then he will bring the power to the switch and run a switch leg up to the ceiling lighting outlet box.
Instructions
1. Buy a wiring permit from the local building permits department before beginning this project.
2. Mount the device box for the switch using the box's captured nails. Position the box against the side of the stud so that the top of the box will be 46 inches above the finished floor line and the front of the box will be flush with the finished wall. Most boxes have a positioning guide on the side of the box to make positioning easier.
3. Mount the ceiling lighting outlet box so that the opening will be flush with the finished ceiling.
4. Route a cable from the service panel to the switch's device box. Secure the cable to the side of rafters and studs at 4-foot intervals with cable staples. Be careful when driving the staples that you don't damage the cable with the hammer. Position the cable so that it's at least 1¼ inches from the front edge of the stud or rafter. When passing a cable through a framing member, drill a 5/8-inch hole using the drill/driver and a 5/8-inch spade bit so that the front edge of the hole is at 1¼ inches from the nearest edge of the framing member.
5. Route a cable from the switch's device box to the ceiling lighting outlet box, installing it and securing it as you did in Step 3.
6. Insert the cable ends into the device box and lighting outlet box so that they project 6 to 8 inches from the box.
7. Remove the outer jacket using the razor knife, leaving ¼ inch of the jacket intact where the cables enter the boxes. Use caution here to not damage the insulation on the individual conductors inside the jacket.
8. Remove 1 inch of insulation from the free ends of all the conductors using the wire strippers.
9. Splice the two white conductors together in the switch's device box. Place the two stripped ends side by side and then twist them together in a clockwise direction using the Lineman's pliers. Twist a wire nut tightly down on the twisted splice to complete the splice before pushing it into the box as far as it will go.
10. Make loops in the bare ends of the black wires and place them around the brass-colored screws on the switch. Tighten these screws down snugly but don't overtighten them.
11. Make a three-way pigtail splice using a short piece of bare copper wire with the two bare-copper grounding conductors and then connect the free end of the pigtail to the dark green grounding screw on the switch.
12. Wrap the switch's terminals with tape and then install the switch in the device box.
13. Connect and install the lighting fixture. Splice the black, white and bare fixture wires to the corresponding circuit conductors using wire nuts.
14. Remove the cover to the service panel. Remove one of the 3/8-inch knockouts from the side of the panel as close as possible to where you will be installing the new circuit breaker. Insert the cable connector, securing it in place with its lock nut.
15. Install the circuit breaker.
16. Insert the cable into the panel. Remove the outer jacket and connect the black wire to the new circuit breaker. Connect the white wire to the panel's neutral bar and the bare grounding wire to the panel's ground bar.
17.Close up the panel.
Tags: lighting outlet, ceiling lighting, ceiling lighting outlet, circuit breaker, service panel, switch device, inches from