Avoid These VERY Common DIY Mistakes When Installing Light Fixtures!

[@Gary_in_NoVA]

Re: breaker vs Off switch . . sometimes there is a 3rd pass-through wire on 3-way circuits or downstream circuits that might not be deenergized by the Off switch. Best for DIY’ers to always turn the breaker off and confirm with a multimeter or voltage tester.

[@schrausten]

😂 Rewired a sink with the switch off. Later I climbed on the sink in my bare feet to adjust something switch off mind you and yes got a nice tingle so definitely turn off at breaker.

[@TortureBot]

​@schrausten I was scratching my head thinking, sink, what does he mean? Then I'm supposing you're talking about a garbage disposal? Even then though, how did you get a continuous electrical connection to the basin of the sink? Maybe through water? Or was it a stainless steel sink, and you had all metal drain pipe underneath?

[@TortureBot]

The thing is, sometimes the hot wire is ran to the fixture box itself, and then you can mark a white neutral wire with black tape and run the available current down to the switch (this follows code), which is then carried via a normal black wire back to the fixture. Available current will be switched by the switch, but the hot will always be in the fixture box. The switch will never keep you safe at all while you're working with the wiring in that box.

[@paulacothren3591]

Thank you. Your advice to connect the Wago devices to the fixture wires in advance as a way to manage the weight of the fixture is a tip that I am glad you included. And I will always turn off the breaker while I'm working with house wiring, just in case.

[@gila168]

You could first wrap the ground wire of the fixture to the ground screw on the mounting plate to support most of the weight. Then connect the Wago or whatever.

[@marcjacobson757]

I think I prefer the look of the old fixtures to the new ones. But otherwise, thanks for another great video.

[@wspollack]

As always, thanks for a clear, concise, and useful video for the home DIYer like me. Just one point: I've been using Wago connectors for a decade or so, for home light fixtures and also on a lot of motorcycle electrical add-ons. Working at home, I prefer the 2-port Wagos over the new-ish in-line connectors: even though both are connecting just two wires, the in-line connector seems to take up a lot more room inside a junction box -- the 2-port connector seems easier to stuff in a crowded junction box.

[@hmj.seward2015]

I will be installing a triple pendant (3 individual pendants that I will make a singular disc and feed them through) and this will be a valuable video to come back to. Thank you.

[@joewenzel5142]

Thanks for putting the link to those Wago 221 in-line connectors, had no idea they even existed and the price is reasonable for a bunch of them. Mine are the old cheap type.

[@danlux4954]

Wire nuts are 90% cheaper.

[@yvonnejackson1696]

Another ceiling fixture is the slightly more complex ceiling fan. My neighbor found an Ajax brand online at half the cost of name brand ones and asked me if I would put it in. I told her sure no problem. After an hour I told her to call an electrician. It took him half a day to install it. I’ve never seen such a cheap made complicated pos. She got a stern lecture from the electrician about buying cheap electrical devices. Let the buyer beware.

[@pyromethious]

If I were to change a step, it would be to prewire the WAGOs at the ceiling as you're more than likely to have multiple wires and I find it easier to slide in the fixture's single wires vs the multiple wires above. Also, unless you have some other way to hold the weight of the fixture below (remove any glass / covers / bulbs), then you might want to temporarily connect something to the fixture from the mount above while you get the wiring done.

[@benodie02760]

Sometimes you just like to make sure your doing a good job and your videos show me some good suggestions or just reinforce that I’m as particular as you are. Great information! Thanks.

[@diytwoincollege7079]

Love those Wagos!! Makes connections a lot easier. I always wrap them with tape too just because I’m a DIY-er.

[@michaelfarris2556]

Man, you always make it look so simple. How many years have you been messing with electric?

[@audiophileman7047]

Well done, ace. 👍👍👍 Sometimes what I do is place something (e.g. a box) between the light fixture and the top step of a ladder to support the weight of the fixture. It leaves my hands free to make the wire connections. That's with wire nuts, but the WAGO connectors sure are nice, and I plan to use them for the first time soon. 💪👊

[@brothermine2292]

Not shown: the assistant who impatiently holds the fixture while you fiddle with the connectors at the ceiling.

[@HowToHomeDIY]

There was no assistant 😂

[@brothermine2292]

>HowToHomeDIY : Not having an assistant seems like another "very common DIY mistake when installing light fixtures." Someone should be present to call 9-1-1 after you fall off the ladder, maybe onto the light fixture.

[@HowToHomeDIY]

@brothermine2292 oh yeah for sure! For the same reason you should always have someone go outside with you in case a unicorn falls out of the sky on you.

[@brothermine2292]

@@HowToHomeDIY Is something wrong with your sense of humor today? I think the people who "liked" my comment got it. The serious point I'm trying to make is that DIYers should consider getting assistance if they encounter difficulty trying to connect the wires to the Wagos while holding the fixture. You yourself pointed out in the video the advantage of connecting the Wagos early to the fixture wires, which reduces the duration of the difficulty by cutting the problematic task in half. (Alternatively, one could instead connect the Wagos early to the ceiling wires. This is the other way to cut the duration of the difficulty in half.) Cutting the duration in half doesn't eliminate the difficulty.

[@HowToHomeDIY]

Felt like I was adding to the humor. Hence the laughing face. That said you seemed to be serious after my initial reply. By all means if you feel you need assistance then use it. But for something this simple, most probably won’t need it.

[@crazydoglady5]

electrical is my weak points soo i try to watch these to learn anything to stay safe and get it done the easiest. Thank you for this video.

[@brucejones5258]

You're videos are great. Just discovered them. Moving to a new to us house, and I'll be changing out most of the fixtures.

[@Greg-n7w]

Turning a switch off and seeing the light go out does not guarantee that power is turned off. Forty years ago, I was new to electrical work but I knew enough to be dangerous. While I was replacing a light fixture with a ceiling fan, I was shocked to find out that the switch was not on the hot side as I had assumed--the switch was on the neutral leg of the fixture. While this works electrically to turn the light on and off, it creates an open neutral and it's a dangerous practice because it gives people a false sense of safety. A reliable non-contact voltage detector--like my Klien--is an absolute must. And I don't assume the detector is working. I want proof. So I test it on a known live power cord to see it light up, switch the power off it to verify that the detector shows it's deenergized, then I turn power back on to verify that the detector lights up again. It's called a live-dead-live test and it's worth the time to help keep you from doing a live-dead-hopefully live test on your body.

[@mattomite9097]

We need a video of you working on lighting/wiring in a house built in the 50’s or 60’s. Much more difficult at times than a modern house

[@TeslaFSDBetaVideos]

So true! Our house has no ground wires to any light fixtures & the wires barely peek out enough to grab them. It's a real pain to work with.

[@salfitimina2376]

About that light installation, we all know it's pretty rare when replacing a fixture that that box is not going to be that empty. Good chance it will be bunch of wires jammed in there , then when you go to move the wires a wire connector probably fall off, lol. But my point is if you are gonna use Wagos, use the smaller 2 wire ones, much easier when pushing wires back into the box. If that box is full, good luck with those long inline Wago connectors.

[@RamonHernandez-pi3pq]

Hello n GM just started to watch your videos n I am learning more on all you are showing..... Thank you keep it up

[@johnrice9121]

Do you like the inline wago better than the side by side one in this case?

[@watermanone7567]

You can place 3 wires into a wire nut. thanks for the video.

[@calburnIII]

When there are multiple wires in the box, it’s easier to install the Wagos on them first, leaving only the fixture wires to attach. Also, I prefer to wrap the house ground wire around the grounding screw rather than the fixture ground wire, because it’s one less connection to make while holding up the fixture.

[@TortureBot]

I was wondering why you never utilize the little outward protruding indentions in the metal by the ground screw when you connect a ground wire. I know it will still work the way you do it, but it helps keep the wire in place as you tighten the ground screw.

[@Odin31b]

My bathroom light figure went out this week. Thanks to this video I now know it's prob that ground wire.

[@donl1410]

Use the box ground wire to attach to the bracket, then connect the fixture ground to the bonded equipment ground from the box.

[@KE5ZZO]

0:39 only way is cut off breaker. - you do not know if power goes thru switch to fixture or it goes to fixture the loops down to switch. Meaning the light box is always hot -- some do this so if fan added it has a constant power source

[@billhandymanbill2775]

Older house sometime as are wired with the power to the box and the drop a “switch leg” connection to the light switch. New homes are wired where the power usually goes to the light switch first then runs up to the light fixture. Always test your wires to see it was wired.

[@andrewbrown4985]

I have a question not pertaining to the light swap. i have a box with 4 wires inside, i want to install a socket into this box, when i check the wires i have 1 ground, 1 white neutral but a red and black wires both are hot. can a socket be fitted and which wire do i use the red or black and what do i do with the wire i do not use?

[@clarencewiles963]

Good job, well done ✅

[@Eddy63]

Nice job & well explained ... Thx

[@joewenzel5142]

15:00 so if you just had the old type connectors - with the wiring where there are 2 whites and two blacks electrical lines coming out of the ceiling, you wrap the white wire from the light around both white ceiling wires at once, so basically all 3 white wires are melded together. Same with the black wires.

[@billhandymanbill2775]

Yes that is correct. Also called a “pigtail” connection.

[@joeweatlu5169]

The two bolts that come down through the fixture are always too long when I install ceiling fixtures. Did you need to adjust them or did you luck out?

[@HowToHomeDIY]

Well if I used a new bracket they needed adjusted a little. The old bracket length was already right on. But super easy to do.

[@zwwineco1]

very fancy connectors. im lucky if the electrician that did mine used wire nuts lol 😂

[@TheKingOfInappropriateComments]

preinstalling lever nut connectors when you're a solo installer is yet another example of why those are superior to wingnuts for the DIYer. The professional electricians who scoff at those aren't thinking about people installing a light fixture themselves high up on a ladder with one hand holding the fixture and another doing somthing else.

[@Starship007]

Some of these light fixtures, have the tiniest little wires.. I guess it’s OK for LEDs but it sure wouldn’t be good for in

[@danlux4954]

2:03 I hate those brackets.

[@brothermine2292]

Is it an error to ground the bracket with the fixture's ground wire (which is downstream of the Wago or wirenut) instead of with the ceiling ground wire (which is upstream of the Wago or wirenut)? I presume you wouldn't want the bracket to become ungrounded due to an accidental disconnection at the Wago or wirenut.

[@frommatorav1]

It should be fine, because that's how he did it. The wago was pushed up into the hole and the fixture ground wire was wrapped clockwise around the ground screw.

[@brothermine2292]

>frommatorav1 : I think you misunderstood my comment. The problem I mentioned is that the bracket is grounded using one of the fixture's wires, instead of with the wire that's _upstream_ of the ground Wago. If either wire becomes disconnected from the ground Wago, the bracket will no longer be grounded. It would be more reliable to ground the bracket upstream of the Wago instead of downstream, so the Wago won't be part of (in series with) this path. So I want to know why the fixture's ground wire was used instead. Was it just convenience, or is there an overriding reason that favors using the fixture's wire?

[@frommatorav1]

@@brothermine2292 ok then. I interpreted you were saying the other way around was correct.

[@FauxQue-yk8dt]

​@@brothermine2292How would a wire come out of the Wago? Once you flip the lever and give it a tug it's not coming out unless you really put a whole lot of effort into it

[@brothermine2292]

>FauxQue-yk8dt : A wire could come out of a Wago for the same reasons why a wire could come out of a wirenut or come off a screw terminal of a power outlet: it might not have been properly assembled, or the hardware might have a defect. In the case of a Wago, an extra reason is that the lever might have been accidentally pulled open, which is why some people wrap it with electrical tape to hold down the levers.

[@mikeharrell287]

i may have missed something - is there a reason we don't just re-use the existing mounting bracket ?

[@billhandymanbill2775]

In most cases you can use the old mounting bracket.

[@danlux4954]

If the screws are at the same place you can reuse them.

[@joeweatlu5169]

He explained that he was replacing it for demonstrating purposes.

[@billhandymanbill2775]

That’s correct. In electrical as well as with other trades, you run into many different situations doing the same task.

[@FSolo-Saenz]

Wondering if people get discombobulated when you say remove the knob counter-clockwise and when looking at the knob from the side, it's clock-wise.

[@HowToHomeDIY]

Not sure what you’re seeing. It’s spinning counter clockwise.

[@billhandymanbill2775]

Lefty Lucy, righty tighty. It is always counterclockwise to loosen

[@michaelmcdermott5329]

I guess I’m old school but I don’t like those connectors. Any more than one wire I’d splice with a tail and use a scotch locks then splice lights with wire nuts. Nothing beats a tight splice. Remember viewers if you use scotch locks they cover the splice not make it. I been on service calls where clamp connections have failed for different reasons….Electrician here 36yrs and counting. Stay safe.

[@FauxQue-yk8dt]

Once you try them you'll never go back.

[@Van-l2r]

Turn the power off? I am shocked!

[@yvonnejackson1696]

How come my warning about buying cheap off brand electrical devices online didn’t show up? I used no actual obscenity in the comment. I’ve actually heard electricians use far worse and not sugarcoat it with acronyms.

[@dbelex]

Real electricians don't use Wagos.

[@user-hm5zb1qn6g]

click bait title.

[@HowToHomeDIY]

How? 😂 I literally cover two common mistakes that are made that can have serious repercussions. The term click bait has become so watered down.

[@defeatevil]

Thank you.

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