How To Install Ceiling Light Bracket
How to Hang a Ceiling Lite Fixture
Nothing spoils a dinner party like a chandelier in the pasta or a sudden blackout. Here'south how to hang lights safely and securely.
Time
A total day
Complication
Beginner
Cost
Less than $20
Introduction
Modify a drab room into a dazzling one with a new overhead light fixture. Here's how to mountain that new fixture correctly and safely using professional installation techniques. Even if y'all've never tackled an electrical project before, you lot can install a ceiling fixture past following the DIY advice and photos in this story.
Tools Required
Materials Required
- x-32 footing spiral
- Electrical box
- Electrical tape
- Calorie-free texture
- Wire nuts
How to Hang a Ceiling Light Fixture Project Overview
Installing a new light fixture is a great way to instantly change a drab room into a dazzling one. Lighting showrooms and catalogs take a wide diversity of fixtures to tempt you. And even though the bag of parts included with some fixtures may look daunting, the electric connections are simple plenty for even a beginner.
Simply poor installation techniques can result in a potentially lethal daze or fire. In this article, we'll assist y'all choose a fixture that volition mount safely on your electrical box and then show yous the all-time techniques for testing a ground and connecting the wires. We've fifty-fifty included photos of the two near common mounting systems to help yous make sense of all those footling parts.
The temperature rating of your existing wires will affect which type of fixture y'all tin can install. Before yous go shopping, read "Remove the old fixture and audit the wiring," below.
Projection step-by-step (9)
Step one
Remove the Onetime Fixture and Inspect the Wiring
Remove the Fixture
Turn off the power to the light fixture at the primary circuit panel. Remove the nut or screws securing the dome-shaped canopy and lower it. And then remove the screws securing the crossbar to the electrical box and lower the fixture.
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Step 2
Make Certain the Ability is Off
Test the wires to make sure the power is off. Move the tip of a non-contact voltage detector near each wire to make sure the power to all wires in the box is turned off (make sure the light switch is turned on). If the tester lights, switch off circuit breakers or loosen fuses 1 at a time until the tester low-cal goes off. Disconnect the wires from the calorie-free fixture. Leave other wires connected and tucked into the electrical box.
It's hard to believe, but many of the light fixtures at present sold at habitation centers and lighting showrooms can't be safely installed in near houses wired before 1985. These fixtures are clearly labeled with a alert that reads "For supply connections, apply wire rated for at least 90 degrees C." The reason is simple: Fixtures with this label generate plenty oestrus to impairment the insulation on older wires and cause a fire take chances. Wires manufactured after 1985 are required to have coverings that can withstand the college temperature.
If you know your wiring was installed earlier 1985, don't use fixtures requiring 90-caste–rated supply wires. To ostend that you take xc-degree–rated supply wire, await at the cable jacket or wire insulation. If you lot have plastic sheathed cable (often referred to as Romex), look for the messages NM-B or UF-B printed on the plastic sheath. If your wiring is fed through conduit, look on the wire insulation for the messages THHN or THWN-2. If you're still unsure, either call an electrician or choose a fixture that isn't labeled with a supply wire temperature requirement.
Check the Electric Box for Capacity and Strength
Heavy Fixtures Require Strong Boxes
If y'all choose a heavy lite fixture (the one we bought weighed in at a hefty 25 lbs.), bank check your electrical box to make certain information technology will support the weight. The National Electrical Code (NEC) allows yous to hang upwardly to 50 lbs. from whatever electrical box that is threaded to have No. 8-32 automobile screws for attaching the crossbar (see "Mounting with Screws and Cap Nuts" and "Mounting with a Threaded Pipage" in Additional Information beneath). This includes almost every type of ceiling box.
For applied purposes, make sure your electrical box is deeply fastened to solid framing before you hang a new light fixture from information technology. If your light fixture weighs more 50 lbs., it has to be supported independent of the electrical box. An easy solution is to install a fan brace box (available from home centers and hardware stores) that's designed to be installed without cutting any additional holes in your ceiling. Cheque the label to make sure the box is designed to support more than 35 lbs.
Most ceiling boxes are large enough: The NEC dictates how many wires and clamps you can safely put in an electric box. Typical i-i/ii to 2-in. deep octagonal or circular ceiling boxes are quite large and overcrowding is rarely a problem. Nevertheless, you should run through the calculations to be sure. See the section on "Calculating Box Sizes." Simply if y'all encounter a round box that's but ane/2 in. deep, supplant it. Once again, the easiest fashion to install a new electrical box in an existing ceiling is to apply a special fan brace and box made for retrofitting.
Calculating Box Sizes
To figure the minimum box size required past the National Electrical Lawmaking, add: one for each hot and neutral wire entering the box, 1 for all the footing wires combined, 1 for all the clamps combined, and two for each device (switch or receptacle, but unremarkably not light fixtures) installed in the box. Multiply this figure by 2 for xiv-gauge wire and 2.25 for 12-gauge wire to get the minimum box volume in cubic inches. Plastic boxes have the volume stamped inside.
Footstep three
Test for a Ground Wire
Turn the Power on and Exam for Hot
Turn the power to the light back on at the main excursion panel (the light switch is nevertheless on). Use the non-contact tester again to make sure in that location is power to the colored (hot) wire.
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Step iv
Exam for Ground
Touch the leads of a neon voltage tester between the hot wire and the metal box (or between the hot wire and bare copper footing wire if yous have one). If the tester lights, the metal box or bare copper wire is grounded and you tin can proceed. If the tester doesn't calorie-free, indicating at that place is no ground, call in a licensed electrician to supply one. (It'south often difficult.) Turn off the power at the master circuit panel before continuing.
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Footstep five
Add a Footing Wire to a Metal Box
Attach a footing wire to the metal box if it'south not already present (turn power off first). Wrap the finish of a vi-in. length of bare copper wire around a No. 10-32 basis screw and drive information technology into the threaded pigsty in the lesser of the box. Wrap the wire at least three-quarters of the way around the screw in a clockwise management. Tighten the screw to secure the footing wire.
Because most light fixtures are metallic or have exposed metal parts, they need to have an equipment ground to be safe. Outset y'all have to make certain a grounding means is available (Photos iii and 4).
If your house is wired with plastic-sheathed cablevision with a bare copper ground wire, you lot're probably covered, only test it to be sure, using the same procedure we're using to examination the metal box. One time yous've determined that a basis exists, it'south simply a matter of making sure that all the metal parts—electrical box, fixture-mounting strap and calorie-free fixture—are securely connected to the footing (Photos v and viii). If your crossbar doesn't have a threaded hole for a basis screw, connect a ground wire to information technology with a special grounding clip.
Brand Sure You Get the Polarity Right
The two lamp string wires on many hanging light fixtures are difficult to tell apart. Nevertheless, it'southward critical to correctly place the neutral wire and connect information technology to the neutral wire(s) in the box. Connecting it to the hot will energize the threaded bulb socket and create a potential stupor risk. Run into Photograph 8 for clues to identifying the neutral fixture wire.
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Stride 6
Reduce Overhead Work past Preassembling Parts on the Basis
Preassemble the Mounting Strap Assembly
Align the back of the awning (the side that fits confronting the ceiling) with the crossbar and adjust the length of the pipe until about 3/8 in. of the threads on the screw collar loop extend through the canopy. Lock the threaded pipe in this position by tightening the locknut against the batten.
Yous'll save time and aching arms by assembling and adjusting the mounting hardware earlier yous climb the ladder. Annotation: The Additional Data at the end of this article below show the two most common mounting systems. In either example, the trick is to thread the automobile screws or threaded rod into the crossbar offset. Then slide the awning over the screws or rod.
Align the crossbar with the dorsum of the canopy and adjust the length of the screws or rod to protrude most 1/iv to 3/8 in. through the awning. Tighten the locknut(due south) to hold the screws or rod in this position. For hanging fixtures, arrange the length of the chain by removing lengths, but don't cut the wires shorter until yous've hung the fixture and confirmed that information technology'south the right superlative.
Mounting Systems
Whether your light fixture is held to the box with screws or a threaded pipe, the 2 mounting systems shown here, the primal to an easy installation is assembling and adjusting the parts before you crawl up on the ladder. To do this, beginning thread the screws or pipe through the batten.
Then, while the fixture is still on the ground, line up the crossbar with the elevation of the canopy and adapt the screws or pipe in or out until near one/4 to ane/2 in. is protruding through the canopy. Mount the crossbar to the electrical box, then connect the wires and finally the fixture (see "Mounting with Screws and Cap Nuts" and "Mounting with a Threaded Piping" in Boosted Information below).
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Step 7
Reconnect the Same Wires
Spiral the Crossbar to the Box
Position all the wires to one side of the crossbar. Then spiral the crossbar to the electrical box with the screws. Y'all'll need a helper to back up the fixture while you do this.
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Step 8
Connect the Wires
Connect the neutral wire from the light fixture to the neutral white wire(s) in the box. If your fixture is wired with lamp-style cord rather than white (neutral) and blackness (hot) wires, identify the neutral wire past looking for silver conductors, writing, squared corners, or ribs or indentations on the insulation.
The unmarked wire is the hot wire. Connect it to the colored (usually black or crimson) hot wire in the box. Complete the hook-up by looping the ground wire clockwise around the ground screw on the batten, tightening the screw, and connecting the end of the wire to the ground wire from the low-cal fixture.
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Step 9
Close the Box
Fold the conductors into the ceiling box and slide the awning over the protruding threaded support. Secure information technology with the decorative nut to complete the installation.
After testing to make sure none of the wires in the box are hot (Photo ii), disconnect the hot, neutral and ground (if your quondam fixture has 1) from your erstwhile fixture and leave other wires bundled in the box. Reconnect the new fixture to these same wires (Photo eight).
If the old wires take twisted or damaged ends, cut them off and remove one/2 in. of the insulated covering with a wire-stripping tool. Connect the wires from the new fixture with appropriately sized wire connectors. Read the packaging to determine the correct size. When you lot connect stranded fixture wire to solid wire, extend the stranded end about i/8 in. beyond the solid wire earlier you twist on the wire connector. Stranded wire occasionally clogs the threads in a connector, preventing a tight grip. Discard the connector and use a new ane if information technology spins freely without tightening.
Consummate the installation past installing the canopy (Photo 9). If it doesn't fit tight to the ceiling, readjust the screws or threaded rod. Add together low-cal bulbs, switch on the power, and plough on the switch to check out your work.
CAUTION!
If you take aluminum wiring, don't mess with it! Phone call in a licensed pro who's certified to work with it. This wiring is dull gray, not the dull orange that'southward characteristic of copper.
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Additional Information
- Mounting with screws and cap basics
- Mounting with a threaded pipe
Source: https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/how-to-hang-a-ceiling-light-fixture/
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