Mdthbs

Did ancient peoples ever hide their treasure behind puzzles?

How can I add lights and a switch downstream of a pull-chain fixture?

Why does Windows store Wi-Fi passwords in a reversible format?

Unlock your Lock

Dotted background on a flowchart

Time difference between banns and marriage

Many many thanks

Was a star-crossed lover

Are (c#) dictionaries an Anti Pattern?

Notice period 60 days but I need to join in 45 days

How to determine algebraically whether an equation has an infinite solutions or not?

Is there an in-universe explanation given to the senior Imperial Navy Officers as to why Darth Vader serves Emperor Palpatine?

A first "Hangman" game in Python

How to emphasise the insignificance of someone/thing – besides using "klein"

Why does a sticker slowly peel off, but if it is pulled quickly it tears?

Is there a word or phrase that means "use other people's wifi or Internet service without consent"?

Defending Castle from Zombies

Can someone identify this unusual plane at airport?

Does NASA use any type of office/groupware software and which is that?

Can a character use multiple reactions in response to the same trigger?

Why did James Cameron decide to give Alita big eyes?

Why does this London Underground poster from 1924 have a Star of David atop a Christmas tree?

Count the number of shortest paths to n

How many petaflops does it take to land on the moon? What does Artemis need with an Aitken?

How can I add lights and a switch downstream of a pull-chain fixture?

How to chain two recessed lights together?How can I replace a ceiling fan light pull chain?Can I replace a single light switch with a 3-way switch that can individually control 2 lights in a fixture?How can I add a new light fixture off of a ceiling fan wired to two switches?How do I add a switch/closet light to the existing end line light switch?Adding switch and new fixtures to basement chain lights. Why does it short?fixture switch wiringCan I add recessed lights to a ceiling fan, without adding a new switch?Is my plan to add a neutral wire to a switch box ok?Ceiling fan replacement, one wire is always hot

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty{ margin-bottom:0;
}

1

I have a challenging wiring question.

I have power coming in to a pull chain light fixture(beginning-of-run). it needs to stay in its current position. I need to borrow power from it and add two downstream STANDARD light fixtures, with a power switch at end-of-run.

The goal is to have the pull-chain light fixture, function independently (regardless of downstream switch position). The two downstream lights need to be controlled by the light switch at end-of-run.

Thanks.

electrical wiring switch light

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

isherwood

57.2k55 gold badges6868 silver badges150150 bronze badges

asked 8 hours ago

DinoDino

611 bronze badge

New contributor

Dino is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Welcome to DIY! Can you post pictures of the fixture?
  
  – Machavity
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

1

I have a challenging wiring question.

I have power coming in to a pull chain light fixture(beginning-of-run). it needs to stay in its current position. I need to borrow power from it and add two downstream STANDARD light fixtures, with a power switch at end-of-run.

The goal is to have the pull-chain light fixture, function independently (regardless of downstream switch position). The two downstream lights need to be controlled by the light switch at end-of-run.

Thanks.

electrical wiring switch light

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

isherwood

57.2k55 gold badges6868 silver badges150150 bronze badges

asked 8 hours ago

DinoDino

611 bronze badge

New contributor

Dino is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Welcome to DIY! Can you post pictures of the fixture?
  
  – Machavity
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

I have a challenging wiring question.

I have power coming in to a pull chain light fixture(beginning-of-run). it needs to stay in its current position. I need to borrow power from it and add two downstream STANDARD light fixtures, with a power switch at end-of-run.

The goal is to have the pull-chain light fixture, function independently (regardless of downstream switch position). The two downstream lights need to be controlled by the light switch at end-of-run.

Thanks.

electrical wiring switch light

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

isherwood

57.2k55 gold badges6868 silver badges150150 bronze badges

asked 8 hours ago

DinoDino

611 bronze badge

New contributor

Dino is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

isherwood

57.2k55 gold badges6868 silver badges150150 bronze badges

asked 8 hours ago

DinoDino

611 bronze badge

New contributor

Dino is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

isherwood

57.2k55 gold badges6868 silver badges150150 bronze badges

asked 8 hours ago

DinoDino

611 bronze badge

New contributor

Dino is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

edited 7 hours ago

isherwood

57.2k55 gold badges6868 silver badges150150 bronze badges

edited 7 hours ago

isherwood

57.2k55 gold badges6868 silver badges150150 bronze badges

asked 8 hours ago

DinoDino

611 bronze badge

New contributor

Dino is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 8 hours ago

DinoDino

611 bronze badge

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

6

So your existing fixture (assuming standard US wiring, you'll have to verify) has a hot (black), neutral (white), and ground (bare) and has constant power. The additional lights will need 4 wires - constant hot to travel to the switch (black), a neutral (white) and a switched power that will come back from the switch (red).

The existing wire (assuming 14G wire for lighting circuits) is sold as "14/2" cable. The ground isn't counted in the number scheme, so it's considered to have 2 conductors. What you will need for the rest of the run is "14/3". This new cable (black, white, red) will run from the existing light to each of the new lights and then to the switch box.

At the existing light, black connects to black and white to white, but the red will just be capped off and unused. Red will be power coming from the switch. In the future if you wanted the pull chain light to be controlled by the switch, you could hook that light's black wire to the new red.

At the new lights, white will connect to white and the black on the fixture will connect to the "switched" red wire. The black wire of the 14/3 will not connect to the new light and will just "pass through" the box. In each box, all ground wires are connected to each other and the bare or green wire from the fixture.

At the switch, the white wire will be capped (unless you use a smart switch that needs the neutral) and the black and red wires will connect to the two screw terminals on the light switch.

Older wiring practices would allow you to do all of this without the extra red wire, but now all switch boxes require a neutral so you must use 14/3 to do it properly and allow for future flexibility. You could do this now with a mix of 14/2 and 14/3, but if you just use 14/3 you don't have to buy 2 rolls of different cable and again, it gives you flexibility later.

Diagram added by request:

The "dotted" red wire is optional and if you never want the pull chain light to be on a switch it will serve no purpose. The white wire going to the switch is not used unless you have a smart switch but it is required by code.

share|improve this answer

edited 6 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

13.1k22 gold badges2626 silver badges4848 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  He would still need /3 between the two lamps.
  
  – Harper
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Harper, true I meant without the extra wire in all locations... Either way I would use /3 everywhere for simplicity.
  
  – JPhi1618
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Just what I needed. I have a spool of 14/2 and 14/3. So, plenty to go around. Your explanation was spot-on. I am a highly visual person. If you could quickly draw this out for me and shoot it to me as an email attachment, unless you can attach it to this string, that would be great.
  
  – Dino
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Dino, I couldn't find a diagram on the internet to use so I created an original for you. Enjoy. The first light had a pull chain but some aggressive lasso tool removed it.
  
  – JPhi1618
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "73"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});

Dino is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Sign up using Google

Sign up using Facebook

Sign up using Email and Password

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fdiy.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f172218%2fhow-can-i-add-lights-and-a-switch-downstream-of-a-pull-chain-fixture%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

6

So your existing fixture (assuming standard US wiring, you'll have to verify) has a hot (black), neutral (white), and ground (bare) and has constant power. The additional lights will need 4 wires - constant hot to travel to the switch (black), a neutral (white) and a switched power that will come back from the switch (red).

The existing wire (assuming 14G wire for lighting circuits) is sold as "14/2" cable. The ground isn't counted in the number scheme, so it's considered to have 2 conductors. What you will need for the rest of the run is "14/3". This new cable (black, white, red) will run from the existing light to each of the new lights and then to the switch box.

At the existing light, black connects to black and white to white, but the red will just be capped off and unused. Red will be power coming from the switch. In the future if you wanted the pull chain light to be controlled by the switch, you could hook that light's black wire to the new red.

At the new lights, white will connect to white and the black on the fixture will connect to the "switched" red wire. The black wire of the 14/3 will not connect to the new light and will just "pass through" the box. In each box, all ground wires are connected to each other and the bare or green wire from the fixture.

At the switch, the white wire will be capped (unless you use a smart switch that needs the neutral) and the black and red wires will connect to the two screw terminals on the light switch.

Older wiring practices would allow you to do all of this without the extra red wire, but now all switch boxes require a neutral so you must use 14/3 to do it properly and allow for future flexibility. You could do this now with a mix of 14/2 and 14/3, but if you just use 14/3 you don't have to buy 2 rolls of different cable and again, it gives you flexibility later.

Diagram added by request:

The "dotted" red wire is optional and if you never want the pull chain light to be on a switch it will serve no purpose. The white wire going to the switch is not used unless you have a smart switch but it is required by code.

share|improve this answer

edited 6 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

13.1k22 gold badges2626 silver badges4848 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  He would still need /3 between the two lamps.
  
  – Harper
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Harper, true I meant without the extra wire in all locations... Either way I would use /3 everywhere for simplicity.
  
  – JPhi1618
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Just what I needed. I have a spool of 14/2 and 14/3. So, plenty to go around. Your explanation was spot-on. I am a highly visual person. If you could quickly draw this out for me and shoot it to me as an email attachment, unless you can attach it to this string, that would be great.
  
  – Dino
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Dino, I couldn't find a diagram on the internet to use so I created an original for you. Enjoy. The first light had a pull chain but some aggressive lasso tool removed it.
  
  – JPhi1618
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

6

So your existing fixture (assuming standard US wiring, you'll have to verify) has a hot (black), neutral (white), and ground (bare) and has constant power. The additional lights will need 4 wires - constant hot to travel to the switch (black), a neutral (white) and a switched power that will come back from the switch (red).

The existing wire (assuming 14G wire for lighting circuits) is sold as "14/2" cable. The ground isn't counted in the number scheme, so it's considered to have 2 conductors. What you will need for the rest of the run is "14/3". This new cable (black, white, red) will run from the existing light to each of the new lights and then to the switch box.

At the existing light, black connects to black and white to white, but the red will just be capped off and unused. Red will be power coming from the switch. In the future if you wanted the pull chain light to be controlled by the switch, you could hook that light's black wire to the new red.

At the new lights, white will connect to white and the black on the fixture will connect to the "switched" red wire. The black wire of the 14/3 will not connect to the new light and will just "pass through" the box. In each box, all ground wires are connected to each other and the bare or green wire from the fixture.

At the switch, the white wire will be capped (unless you use a smart switch that needs the neutral) and the black and red wires will connect to the two screw terminals on the light switch.

Older wiring practices would allow you to do all of this without the extra red wire, but now all switch boxes require a neutral so you must use 14/3 to do it properly and allow for future flexibility. You could do this now with a mix of 14/2 and 14/3, but if you just use 14/3 you don't have to buy 2 rolls of different cable and again, it gives you flexibility later.

Diagram added by request:

The "dotted" red wire is optional and if you never want the pull chain light to be on a switch it will serve no purpose. The white wire going to the switch is not used unless you have a smart switch but it is required by code.

share|improve this answer

edited 6 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

13.1k22 gold badges2626 silver badges4848 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  He would still need /3 between the two lamps.
  
  – Harper
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Harper, true I meant without the extra wire in all locations... Either way I would use /3 everywhere for simplicity.
  
  – JPhi1618
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Just what I needed. I have a spool of 14/2 and 14/3. So, plenty to go around. Your explanation was spot-on. I am a highly visual person. If you could quickly draw this out for me and shoot it to me as an email attachment, unless you can attach it to this string, that would be great.
  
  – Dino
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Dino, I couldn't find a diagram on the internet to use so I created an original for you. Enjoy. The first light had a pull chain but some aggressive lasso tool removed it.
  
  – JPhi1618
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

So your existing fixture (assuming standard US wiring, you'll have to verify) has a hot (black), neutral (white), and ground (bare) and has constant power. The additional lights will need 4 wires - constant hot to travel to the switch (black), a neutral (white) and a switched power that will come back from the switch (red).

The existing wire (assuming 14G wire for lighting circuits) is sold as "14/2" cable. The ground isn't counted in the number scheme, so it's considered to have 2 conductors. What you will need for the rest of the run is "14/3". This new cable (black, white, red) will run from the existing light to each of the new lights and then to the switch box.

At the existing light, black connects to black and white to white, but the red will just be capped off and unused. Red will be power coming from the switch. In the future if you wanted the pull chain light to be controlled by the switch, you could hook that light's black wire to the new red.

At the new lights, white will connect to white and the black on the fixture will connect to the "switched" red wire. The black wire of the 14/3 will not connect to the new light and will just "pass through" the box. In each box, all ground wires are connected to each other and the bare or green wire from the fixture.

At the switch, the white wire will be capped (unless you use a smart switch that needs the neutral) and the black and red wires will connect to the two screw terminals on the light switch.

Older wiring practices would allow you to do all of this without the extra red wire, but now all switch boxes require a neutral so you must use 14/3 to do it properly and allow for future flexibility. You could do this now with a mix of 14/2 and 14/3, but if you just use 14/3 you don't have to buy 2 rolls of different cable and again, it gives you flexibility later.

Diagram added by request:

The "dotted" red wire is optional and if you never want the pull chain light to be on a switch it will serve no purpose. The white wire going to the switch is not used unless you have a smart switch but it is required by code.

share|improve this answer

edited 6 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

13.1k22 gold badges2626 silver badges4848 bronze badges

share|improve this answer

edited 6 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

13.1k22 gold badges2626 silver badges4848 bronze badges

answered 7 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

13.1k22 gold badges2626 silver badges4848 bronze badges

answered 7 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

13.1k22 gold badges2626 silver badges4848 bronze badges