Installing a Light Fixture

Installing a Light Fixture

Installing a light fixture is fairly simple if the procedure below is followed.

Switch

1. Turn off power

Turn on the light switch for the fixture to be replaced.  Go to the breaker or fuse box and turn off the power to the light. If you do not know which breaker or fuse controls the light, try each one individually until the light turns off. Next, turn off the light switch just in case someone accidentally turns the power back on at the circuit box Installing a Light Switch.

2. Remove the cover plate

Remove the fasteners from the light fixture plate covering the electric box and carefully lower the fixture. While holding the fixture with one hand, disconnect the ground wire which is usually either a green wire or a bare copper wire. Next, unscrew the two-wire caps securing the hot and neutral wires and separate the wires.

3. Prepare for the new fixture

Install the fastener plate that came with the new light fixture to the electric box.  Straighten the ends of the two electrical wires so you will not have a problem attaching them to the fixture wires.

4. Install new light fixture

I suggest having someone hold the light fixture while you fasten the wires and secure it to the electric box. Remove approximately three-quarters of an inch of insulation from the ends of both of the fixture wires. It doesn’t matter which wire you attach to the box wires other than the ground wire. Twist each of the wires to the wires in the box and then attach the wire caps.  Secure the ground wire from the fixture to the ground wire in the box.  Carefully insert the wires into the box and attach the fixture cover being careful that no wires are pinched beneath the cover.

Please Read Our Other Article "Home Appliances Repair"