How do I install an electrical switch?

Question

I have a closet with a pull switch light. It is the only one in the whole house and it is driving me mad! The string hangs in my way or gets caught on the hangers or comes off in my hand! I'm kind of handy. I have put in vinal flooring, toilets and a ceiling fan.

How do I install a switch on the outside of the door. I can find information about installing a REPLACEMENT switch for an electrical box that is already there. But I want to know how to install wires from the circut to the new box.

If anyone has step by step directions or a good web link I'd be really happy.

Thanks.

By the way, I live in an older home. So telling me to connect the red or black wire to this or that won't help as I found out with my fan. My house has black sometimes or white sometimes or any combination of black, white, red and the copper ground like the 4 way switch in the hallway.

I do have access to the attic just above the wall I want the switch on.

Answer 1

Route the string horizontally along the ceiling to an O-ring at the wall. From there it will drop vertically and not be in your way.
To place an electrical switch for the light you will need access to the wires and some way to route a wire to the new switch. Do you have access from the attic to run a wire from the light box to the inside of the wall? Decide on an acceptable route for the wiring and the rest is relatively simple.

Answer 2

Ok Tamm, here goes,

Since this light is in a closet, we can cheat, or not cheat, it's totally up to your handiness. All an electrical switch does is
open or "break" one of the two wires going to your light, prefferably the " hot wire ". I assume that you do not know which is which, it's ok. If you can access the light fom above, attic, etc., and you can access the top of the wall, where you want the switch, this can make for a very neat job. If you are uncomfortable with accessing these points, then we'll start with the "cheat mode".
Let's start with going to the hardware and getting 15 feet of 12guage, 2conductor (with ground), Romex wire. One simple
wall switch, ( it will have 3 connector screws, 2 of the screws will be on the side of the switch body and 1 will be all by itself,
it will be the ground). You need 1 (surface mount) electrical box, 1 switch plate, 1 wire nut (yellow or red), and one roll of electrical tape.
After turning off the power, drop the light fixture from the ceiling and disconnect 1 (only 1 ) wire from it.
Run your new wire, either through the ceiling or on the surface ( whatever your preference ) from the light to wherever you want the switch. 1 wire goes to where you disconnected the wire on the fixture and the other wire goes to the wire that you disconnected, ( the color of the wires don't matter ).
Put your lighting fixture back in place and run your wiring to wherever, however, you want the switch.
Connect the 2 wires to the switch body, turn on the main supply, and , voila, external light switch.
I'm making my e-mail accessable, starting now, so tell me what you think. I hope this helps and God Bless.

Answer 3

First just so you know you cant run romex unprotected on the outside of a wall it needs to be in a conduit.
What you want to do is buy a old work box ( plastic is the best and easiest to use) trace this box on the location of the wall where you want the switch ( check for studs first you want to be in the bays) cut out the box out . Now go up to the attic locate the wall on which the switch is going and drill a hole into the top of the stud , locate the light box in the attic and put the wire into the light box and run over to the hole you drilled out using a fish snake tape on the wire to snake a push it down to switch location. (A tip for drilling the hole and locating it in the atiic is to cut a piece of a snake about 1 foot long, stick it in a drill and drill a small hole in the ceiling above switch location so you can see it in the attic.) You want to take the 2 wires in the switch box and put them on the switch does not matter which screw they go on , and take the bare copper wire and put it on the ground screw and in the light box you will want to find the hot wire ( black ) and splice that on with the white wire going down to switch and the black from the switch to the light if you cant id the colors in the box it will stick work if you do it backwards . Stock you will need
14/2 or 12/2 romex depends on what size is in light box and what size the breaker or fuse is. 14/2 is common for lighting
14/2 =15 amp
12/2=20 amp
Single pole switch
Old work plastic box
Just so you know open bulb lights are not allowed in clostets they are suppose to be flu. light strips , may want to consider changing it out, it is a fire hazard
Any ? you can e-mail me

Answer 4

Unless you want to hire and electrician, your best solution might be surface mount wiring like Wiremold. Using a metal casing that can be painted the same as the wall or door frame, you fasten mounts to the wall and run the wires on the surface. You then snap the casing on the mounts to hide the wires. Wiremold will also offer surface mount switch boxes.

Answer 5

Wiring that old is risky. contemporary wiring criteria easily make this a really straightforward question, in spite of the undeniable fact that that's the age it truly is the priority. Your wiring works on a similar concepts as each body else's yet there is the unknown of age. If there replaced right into a change there already, you have to be able as an instance off the breaker or eliminate the fuse for that circuit, attempt it to be particular that's off, and then replace a clean change for the old one making use of the wires as they're bumped off. take care of electricity with respect.

Answer 6

Buy a length (10-20' depending on your closet size and switch positioning requirements) of 14G 3wire cable (inside is black,white,and ground wire); "single gang" switch box for old work/construction; single pole switch; small packet of wire nuts; wire stripping and cutting tool. A power drill with a 1/2" bit will be helpful. A hammer, and electric wire staples will be handy, too.

Measure the dimensions of the wall both in the attic and in your closet to determine reasonably accurate entry/exit locations for your switch wire.

Cut a switch-box-sized hole in the drywall/plaster 46" or so above the floor and next to a 2x4 stud at the place you want the switch.

After verifying the power to your closet lamp is off, take out the old lamp (look for screws to unscrew), exposing the wire box above it.

Then, get up in that attic with the wire and the drill and fish one end of the wire into previously mentioned wire box. 6-12" away from the box, staple the wire down snugly using the hammer and wire staple. Take care not to damage the cable insulation.

Locate the top of the wall frame where your switch will be. Drill a 1/2" hole (or bigger) through it. Lower the other end of your wire through the hole about 5-6 feet.

Back at the switch-hole near your closet, feel around inside with your hand, or a tool, for the wire you just put in the wall. If your walls are old, even the exterior walls will likely be uninsulated so this should be relatively easy.

If you have insulation to contend with you will need a wire puller tool (wind-up rigid metal strip on a spool available at any hardware store) and an extra pair of hands to make it easier. Follow the simple instructions which come with your puller.

Once the wire end is poking out a good foot or so from the hole in your wall, you can go and nail down the wire snugly in your attic next to the entry point into the closet wall.

Thread the wire through one of the back openings of the switch box. Install the box in the wall according to the instructions for that box. Pull all the slack out of your wire.

Now, the wiring: trim the cable in both switch and lamp box to 6-9", strip and cut a good 6 inches of cable sheath away at either end of your new switch wire. Strip 1/2" of insulation from the ends of the black and white wires. Make sure the existing wires are like this, too.

At the lamp box, the existing white/light colored wire goes to the white wire from your (hopefully new) lamp. Twist the ends together clockwise and screw snugly a small wire nut on them. Make sure it is tight and won't come off. Likewise, take the black/red/dark colored wires which feed power to the lamp and attach them to the white wire of your new switch cable you just fished through the wall. Finally, connect the black wires from the lamp and your new switch wire together.

At the switch, connect the black and white wires to either terminal on your switch by pushing them in the little holes in the back of the switch body. Very convenient. They can be released by sticking a flat tip screwdriver into the slots next to the holes.

Naked (no insulation) ground wires attach to the green screws on your lamp, switch, AND to each other. If you have no ground wires in your existing household electrical cables, consider an upgrade by a professional.

Make sure there is NO exposed copper on the black or white wire connections you just made.

Once everything is connected, fold it into the boxes, and screw the mounts, plates and covers on.

At this point turn the power to that circuit back on, and if everything works, give yourself a pat on the back!

Good Luck

Want more info? try:

http://www.thecircuitdetective.com/bkgrd.htm#switch

Answer 7

i'm an electrician but due to the lack of not knowing how much you know about elctrical, my best tip would be to buy a light with a motion sensor, that would solve your problem, everytime you walk in the light would go on, and turn off when you leave the closet, in case you use this light even on day time, get a motion sensor light with no photocell so it can also turn on during the day

Answer 8

Lowes and Home Depot have great little do-it-yourself house wiring guides. They are $10 to $15 and unlike the computer web pages, you can take it with you to the worksite.

Answer 9

call an electrician in they know what they are doing and atleast you know for sure that is done right, or as said buy a light with a sensor switch it on by your cord switch and then you can get rid of that pesky cord