Help with Attic light install

So basically all I have now is a metal box in the attics floor joists, that I think should house existing electrical wiring. Plan was to turn off breakers, open box and connect new wire, white on white and black on black using wire nuts. Then run this up to the ceiling and over to the location of light install, connect to porcelain light socket, put in bulb and turn breaker back on.

Could I be missing anything here? Should be simple right?? What mistakes have you made in this project???

Thank you,

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Junction box ?

 

Will a junction box enable me to have one hot line coming in and two going out, one for each light? If so I'm on it.

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No , I mean is the " metal box in your attic floor joists " a junction box or a light or fan or smoke detector or what ?

 

Junction box to mount the porcelain light on.

You can knock out the holes in the junction box for what you need.

You need to know if that is hooked to anything else too.

 

Oh. It's just a metal box that has a wire running into it, one black and one white with wire nuts dead ending them.

Clearly I've never touched electrical lol

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I see

 

If you have a voltage tester you can check to see if the black and white wire in the box has 120 volts. If so then you should be able to splice into that and run your wire to where you want your attic light. If your attic light fixture has a pull string then no switch is needed.

Make sure you turn the breaker for that wire off before you splice into it.

Or have someone that knows what to do, do it. lol

 

My suggestion is to let someone who knows what they're doing do it for you if you have never done it before.

Doing it yourself:

pro's: You get light and luck up and get it right.

con's: House ends up in ashes.

 

Is there power running to the wires in the box? If so, locate which breaker and find out what else is on that breaker. Once you are able to determine that it will be fine then run all your wires to the light and switch and then connect them to the wires in that box last.

If you are really bad with electrical stuff go get a book at home depot and that could walk you thru the basics, or higher an expert.

 

Ok sounds like I need a few more supplies before I start this job. Yes it has a chain on the socket. I'll need a voltage tester and junction boxes. No I've not done electrical before but I am a new home owner and would prefer to learn things than to contract these small tasks out. I Recently installed a new front door, storm door and attic door with pull down aluminum ladder and it can't be much harder...

Thanks for the advice!

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Make sure you make good connections

 

Electrical tape. I like to wrap a wire and the wire nut after I use a wire nut

 

Good mechanical connection , good marrette connection

 

Great idea. I'll post some after pics when I'm done tomorrow, of the lights, or the ashes, hell maybe both. . You never learn unless you try!

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Sounds like me. lol

 

If you are going to be doing electrical tasks around the house, I recommend getting a multimeter at home depot. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-To...timeter-Test-Kit-69149/204367271?N=5yc1vZboff This kit looks good for a beginner. You have a j-box with two wires in it. The parts list you will need is: cover for original j-box, 14-2 with ground ROMEX cable(it should have one black, one white and a bare copper wire for your ground), romex connectors unless your j-boxes are made out of plastic, romex staples to keep cable where you want it, a 3/0 or 4/0 junction box( basically an octagon looking box for light fixtures), wire nuts(Ideal tans work for a bunch of different wire sizes or orange) they should have a multi pack in the store. Now you can check for voltage on the two wires. It is safer too have two people doing this, one to test and one to turn breaker off when done testing. Make sure you do not touch the bare copper on either wire with your hands.The black wire should be your hot and the white should be your neutral. After checking for voltage... TURN-OFF circuit breaker and install Romex cable and your new junction box. Strap romex down with staples with a hammer. Leave 6-8 inches of cable in each box, strip back outer cover with a knife down the middle of the cable where the bare wire is(try not to knick the white or black), wire in the lamp holder. If you are lucky it will have two or three wires coming off of it. If not there will be three screws...one copper colored for the black wire, one silver for the white wire and one green for the green wire. Next you need to strip the wire about half an inch on the white and black. connect wires to light socket. If there are screws wrap them clockwise under screws so they do not loosen as you tighten. Install lamp holder with screwdriver. Go to original j-box, strip wires and connect color to color and if there is no ground wire in original box connect green wire to the j-box. If you have any questions just message me. You should be able to find videos on you tube to walk you through or there is a basic electrical book at home depot I believe like Taco said.

 

If that's all your doing is tying in power for a pull cord light then that's all to have to do but if there is a switch you need to tie straight to the hot then cause if there is a switch then the switch is switching the hot and the only thing is in the box you will have a trailer and not a hot

 

Would recommend a multimeter too...but if you want accuracy get a Fluke. They're more expensive but also more accurate. Like anything, you get what you pay for. Also, it's highly unlikely you'll burn your house down...maybe shock the shit out of yourself and trip a breaker but it's AC and (I'm assuming) 110 so it'll suck but not be the end of the world. ElectroD is pretty spot on though, knows his stuff so follow that!

 

I appreciate all the advice and sorry I have not reported back sooner. Had a minor setback with my 6mo old daughter getting a fever for the first time, all the way up to 103f. She is fine thankfully!

Was not able to complete install but was able to pick up some parts. That box in the attic turns out to be different than I remembered. It's not metal but plastic and has something connected inside. I'm not sure if I should connect directly into what's here, or go back a bit on the incoming line and just splice from there. Either way I did not get the multimeter as I am planning on shutting the whole house down at the breaker panel. I only get one day off each week so not going at it again until Wednesday. Here are some pics of my supplies and what I'm dealing with, any comments welcomed:

White on top is incoming and the gray goes out to something...










What can I do better?

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