How to Supercede a Lite Fixture

Supplant a lite fixture without the hassle with these electric tips from veteran pros.

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Introduction

Supplant a light fixture more quickly, safely and with more conviction with the electric tips and techniques used by pros. These electric tips solve the most mutual bug you're likely to encounter.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • Box extender
  • Mounting brackets
  • Stab-in connectors

Replacing Low-cal Fixtures: Solving Unanticipated Electrical Problems

Replacing a light fixture is i of those DIY jobs that's theoretically quick and simple, but often becomes a iii-hr series of problems.

So nosotros talked with two of our master electricians. They've seen — and solved — all those frustrations and offered these tips to help DIYers through the job quicker and safer. We won't show yous hither, but this article will walk you through how to hang a ceiling low-cal fixture and how to hang a pendant calorie-free fixture.

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Project step-by-footstep (xiv)

Stride one

Flipping the Billow isn't Plenty

  • Fifty-fifty after you plough off the breaker that controls the light'due south circuit, you tin still get shocked. How? Some junction boxes comprise wiring from multiple circuits.
    • Pro tip: So even if you cut the power to the calorie-free fixture, there may however exist live wires in the junction box.
  • To exist condom, check all the wires in the box with a non-contact voltage detector before you disconnect any wires.
  • Simply affect each wire's insulation with the tester. If the lite glows, the wire is live.
    • Pro tip: Yous don't have to actually bear on a bare wire to cheque for voltage with this detector. Holding the tip on or close to the wire'southward insulation is plenty.

voltage tester circuit pen

Footstep 2

Buy Extra Mounting Brackets

  • The mounting brackets supplied with your fixture may not piece of work with your junction box.
  • So when yous purchase your new fixture, also pick upwardly a few other styles of mounting brackets.
    • Pro tip: Better to spend an extra v bucks than to make a trip to the hardware store in the middle of the job.

mounting brackets

Step 3

Slick Solution for Long Screws

  • If the fixture mounting screws are too long to fit in the box, you'll need to cut them.
  • A hacksaw works but makes a mess of the threads.
    • Pro tip: A wire stripper with born bolt cutters is the manner to go.
  • Just thread the screw into the right size threaded hole until you get the length y'all need and squeeze the handle.
  • Every bit you remove the screw, the tool cleans up the threads at the cut end.

wire cutter

Step 4

Short Wires, No Trouble

  • When the wires in the box are also short, making connections is aggravating. Instead, pick up a few stab-in connectors.
  • In tight spaces, they're much easier to employ than twist-on nuts.
  • Push button a "pigtail" (a new piece of wire) into the connector, then push the connector onto the old wire. At present yous've got plenty of length to connect to the fixture's wires.
    • Pro tip: Make sure the wire you use for the pigtail is the same gauge as the existing wire.

If you have aluminum wiring, don't piece of work on information technology yourself. The connections require special techniques. Call in a licensed pro who's certified to work with it.

extend short wires

Pace v

Extend the Box

  • If the junction box is recessed more than i/4 in. from the surface of the wall or ceiling, y'all've got a code violation.
  • This is common when a layer of drywall or wood was installed over the original ceiling.
  • To correct it, add a box extender.

box extender

Pace 6

Improvise an Extra Hand

  • Connecting a fixture takes three hands: ane to hold the fixture and two to brand the connections.
  • If you don't have a third hand, hang the fixture from a scrap of wire or a coat hanger while you lot make the connections.
    • Pro tip: Curve a scrap of wire to back up the fixture while you wire it.

third hand installing light fixture

Step 7

Aligning the Screw Hole

  • Many fixtures take a awning that's held in identify by two screws.
  • Aligning the outset spiral is like shooting fish in a barrel plenty because yous can tilt the awning a footling and aim for the screw hole above it.
  • To align the second screw, stick a skinny screwdriver or a smash into the canopy pigsty and rotate the awning until you find the spiral hole.

aligning screw holes

Step 8

Check Your Wiring Earlier Yous Buy the Lite Fixture Replacement

  • If your home was congenital earlier 1985, beware: Many new light fixtures can't be continued to pre-1985 wiring because the insulation on the wiring can't withstand the estrus generated past the fixture.
  • These fixtures carry a warning on the label: "Apply wire rated for at least 90 degrees C."
  • If you lot know your wiring was installed earlier 1985, y'all'll have to cull a fixture that doesn't carry this warning.
  • Hanging fixtures, for example, commonly don't require newer wiring considering they don't heat the wiring as much as fixtures that mount direct against the ceiling.
  • The alternative is to replace the wiring, which may be a small job, or huge, depending on the situation.

If you don't know the age of your wiring, look at the fine print. If you have plastic sheathed cable (Romex is one common brand) and can come across the outer sheathing, look for "NM-B" or "UF-B." Or wait for "THHN" or "THWN-2" on the insulation of individual wires. If you meet any of these, the wiring can handle the estrus.

Step ix

Purchase Better Connectors

  • The twist-on connectors supplied with virtually fixtures are all plastic; no metallic threads inside.
  • They but don't grip the wires for an easy, secure connection.
    • Pro tip: Spend an extra few bucks on a pack of assorted small connectors with metal threads when you purchase the fixture.

wire connectors

Step 10

Connecting Stranded Wire to Solid Wire

  • Calorie-free fixtures almost ever require a connection between solid wire and stranded. That'southward frustrating because the connector twists and pushes the stranded wire just doesn't grab it.
  • Hither'south the solution:
    • First, cut off the old exposed solid wire and then strip off ane/2 in. of the insulation.
    • On the stranded wire, strip off v/eight in.
    • Hold the wires together so the stranded wire extends about 1/eight in. across the solid wire and twist on the connector.
    • The end of the stranded wire will bunch up inside the tip of the connector, locked in identify for a secure connection.

strong wire connections

Stride 11

Why Piece of work in the Nighttime?

  • If the lite fixture and outlets in the room are on unlike circuits, plug in a couple of lamps before y'all shut off the ability to the fixture.
  • Otherwise, strap on a camping ground headlamp. Y'all'll discover them everywhere.
    • Pro tip: Conduct your flashlight on your head so you don't have to bollix around in the nighttime.

Camping headlamp

Footstep 12

Stripped Hole Prepare

  • The built-in screw holes on a metallic box are piece of cake to strip.
  • And if that happens, your first impulse might be to use a drywall screw.
  • Bad idea — the sharp tip can poke through wire insulation.
  • Instead, use an electrician'due south tap to cut new threads in the hole.
    • Pro tip: That will enlarge the hole from a No. viii-32 spiral size to a No. x-32, so you may demand a couple of new screws, too.

stripped hole fix

Step 13

Check for Basis

  • Your new low-cal fixture will have a basis wire (green coated or bare copper).
  • But if you have an older metal box, there may non be a ground wire inside the box to connect to.
  • Calculation a ground wire to the box isn't difficult; only connect a six-inch section of bare copper wire to the box past driving a No. x-32 ground screw into a threaded hole in the box.
    • Pro tip: But earlier yous practise that, you have to make sure the box itself is grounded.
  • Here'south how to make sure your wires are grounded:
    • Plough the power on and make sure the low-cal switch is turned on.
    • Notice the hot wire (typically blackness or red) using your non-contact voltage tester.
    • Next, you'll need a circuit tester.
    • Touch 1 of the tester'southward probes to the bare end of the hot wire and the other to the box.
    • If the light glows, the box is grounded.
    • If not, a ground wire will need to be run to the box to meet electrical code. That's a job for a licensed electrician, unless you're a extremely knowledgeable DIYer.

check for ground

Pace 14

Chandelier Concatenation Too Long? At that place'due south a Tool for That!

  • Raising a chandelier is equally piece of cake as removing a few concatenation links.
  • Simply opening and closing links without scratching or misshaping them tin can be a pain. That's why there'south chain pliers.
  • This tool bends links open and airtight gently and neatly.

Chain pliers

Originally Published: June 15, 2022