installing a pendant light?
- on 04.07.09
- Pendant Light
- 3 Comments
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
I have a newer home that had two existing light sources in the kitchen. The control switch for the light above the sink is located in the kitchen and the light switch for the light located in the middle of the kitchen is on the wall entering into the kitchen. I tried replacing the light above the sink with a pendant lighting. When taking the existing light down I saw that all the wires were black not labeled so I went to the hardware store and bought a circuit tester. I found out that two wires were hot and the other wire did not set off the circuit tester. Previously one of the hot wires was connected to the wire that did not set the circuit tester off, and the other hot wire was by itself. When I hooked up the pendant light I connected all the hot wires and left the wire that caused no reaction by itself, then connected the ground wire to the screw in the mounting bracket. The pendant light turns on, but the other light will not as a matter of fact both light switches turn on and off the pendent light. Am I suppose to separate the hot wires if so how do i know which one to hook up to the pendant hot wire.
Wire nut all of the hots together and all of the neutrals together and you should be fine(you have to find hots and neutrals by getting a 2 lead type tester, turning all lights on, and putting the test leads between different combination's of wires, find which are hot and which are neutral that way and be sure to add tape so you don't forget) as they are probably for the same circuit(in the future, label wire with tape so you know what they are for and can reconnect them as they were before)
Wire nut all of the hots together and all of the neutrals together and you should be fine(you have to find hots and neutrals by getting a 2 lead type tester, turning all lights on, and putting the test leads between different combination's of wires, find which are hot and which are neutral that way and be sure to add tape so you don't forget) as they are probably for the same circuit(in the future, label wire with tape so you know what they are for and can reconnect them as they were before)
References :
commercial electrician for 7 years
Hook them up the way they were. turn only the pendant light switch on,then test, the hot will be for the pendant light.
References :
Well, connect the wires the way they were before, that wire you didn't hook up must go to the other fixture, so if it's not hooked up the other light will not work, when you open up electrical boxes and mess with the wires leave them connected the way they were unless you have a reason to think they should not be, and then it may be time to call an electrician.
If you change fixtures just don't get to "creative" with the way you hook wire back up, remember they were hooked up that way for a reason.
References :
electrician