Never Run Power to a Light Box

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When running wires in the rough-in stage, you must think about the troubleshooting stage (because mistakes happen to all of us!).
If you run power to an octagon light box in the ceiling, you will have to take down the light (or worse.. A CEILING FAN), just to troubleshoot to find power. Imagine the light was up 20-30 feet in the air? When the jobsite is happening, ladders, scaffolding, and scissor lifts are available.. but years later, it's not so easy to access these light boxes sometimes.
So think ahead.. RUN POWER TO YOUR LIGHT SWITCH, then run the switch leg up to the light, then daisy chain those lights that are operated from that single-pole switch by splicing them in the octagon box.
Your troubleshooting will become much easier by simply taking off a cover plate to a light switch, rather than taking down a light 🙂
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DISCLAIMER ABOUT MY ELECTRICAL VIDEOS:
Do not do anything in my videos..
Follow all local electrical codes for proper installation and safety.
Becoming-an-Electrician.com will not be held liable for any damages caused by watching these videos. They are intended for education purposes only.
Make sure to get professional advice and get your work inspected by a proper electrical inspector in your area.
#electrician #troubleshooting #lightswitch

[@BrawnyNerd]

Great video. I’m a recent pre-apprenticeship graduate and my instructors got us to do little projects both with power running from the switch, and another from the light itself - which never seemed right and this video makes even more sense. Thank you.

[@BecomingAnElectrician]

Yes, just to clarify, if you run power to the light octagon, you need to get a ladder and remove the light for maintenance purposes. If you run power to the switch, it's really easy to just remove the coverplate and switch for troubleshooting. If you want to connect multiple lights off one switch, still run power to the switch, then bring the "switch leg" up to the light, and make the splice in the octagon to the next octagon. Again, you will know power is at the light switch. If one of the lights work, and one light doesn't, then you know it may be a bad splice. If power isn't working at all, maybe it's something in the switch box. (If dealing with older lights, always check the lightbulb! If LED.. this is not as easy any more to test for troubleshooting..) Visit the website for the article: becoming-an-electrician.com/never-run-power-to-a-light-box/ (There's also lots of free training by email sign-up here: becoming-an-electrician.com/free). Hope you enjoy your electrical apprenticeship!

[@samgonzalez1447]

Great job 👏 explaining this! I love it!! 🙏🫶👍

[@BecomingAnElectrician]

Thank-you for watching and your feedback. Much more on the website: becoming-an-electrician.com/

[@pedromf1497]

thank for an awesome initiative!!! i checked the website like you advised in the video and in other comments, but after 10 seconds the website becomes unusable and it looks like it has a translucid green screen in front

[@pedromf1497]

the only thing I'm able to do is scroll, nothing else

[@BecomingAnElectrician]

Hey, okay thanks for letting me know. I will look into this: becoming-an-electrician.com/

[@pedromf1497]

@@BecomingAnElectrician I used the website again, I don't know if you did anything or solved the problem but today I had no problem whatsoever, site is working perfect!! thanks again for being awesome and sharing your knowledge!! 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🤝🤝

[@BecomingAnElectrician]

@@pedromf1497 Thanks for letting me know! Yes I disabled a setting to keep it more simple. Glad you were able to enjoy. Lots of videos & written electrician tutorials any time you have time to learn!: becoming-an-electrician.com/

[@jakeleibold2187]

I’ve watched some of your videos and really enjoy them. For this one, I have a totally different opinion. It’s my experience that it is much cleaner to run power from Fixture to Fixture, then drop a 14/2 or 14/3 loop down to the switch . Especially when rewiring older homes since it takes less much effort to fish a Single loop to a switchbox than it would to Fish a feed, downstream, and switched leg in. Too, there’s always more cu. In. In the fixture box.

[@BecomingAnElectrician]

Regarding renovations, that is something that is "whatever is easiest" because it's usually a one-time fix and you're good to go. If you're wiring a condo where there's 40+ units, and many apprentices making mistakes, getting everyone to bring power to the light switch is by far the easiest way to troubleshoot. Otherwise you have to bring a ladder around with you everywhere, and you're hoping they brought power to the closest light.. Bringing power to the lightbox switch is very wise words of advice in normal situations I have been taught by many good journeyman over my years. It's very easy to see if anything is missing power/switchleg before drywallers proceed with drywall. KEEP THINGS SIMPLE 🙂 Also thanks for watching and your comment!

[@dwightdavis7180]

when you connecting a switch u ave to ave power in the box so 2 wire coming from the switch to the box thats going to connect ur light...one of those wire coming from the switch is what u call a return...

[@BecomingAnElectrician]

In an electrical switch you need a hot and neutral wire. It's always wisest to run power to the electrical switch box first for easy electrical maintenance (no ladder required, and don't have to take down a light to troubleshoot). In the light box in the video, potentially they wired it for a fan, but even in this case, you can see they spliced in the light box, meaning it was an inexperienced apprentice electrician not understanding the whole picture. For anyone reading, run power to the light switch box first, then run a switch leg up to the light. (2-wire for regular lights, 3-wire for a fan).

[@samgonzalez1447]

@@BecomingAnElectrician excellent!! I love your work~ hope you can post more videos! 👍🙏☀️

[@BecomingAnElectrician]

@@samgonzalez1447 Yes, will be coming soon :) - Visit the website for tons of articles & videos: becoming-an-electrician.com/ Leave a comment on the website with what you'd like to see!

[@Vijaysingh-zp1ql]

Thanx bro from india 10 year experience electrcian u r country in work for apply for electrcian help me

[@BecomingAnElectrician]

Hey Vijay, I'd say reach out to a local college in regards to immigration, and they will have all the details for you! Thanks for watching :)