I can architect the worlds most complicated telecommunications systems but when it comes to home electrical work I am admittedly a COMPLETE moron.

So here is my question:

I have an existing light fixture in the basement. I know I can tap into it with 14/2 romex, go black/black, white/white, copper/copper, and run a line to a new fixture, so I would then have 2 lights on the same switch.

To add a 3rd light, would I just do the same from the new 2nd light? Or do I add any more lights off the existing light?



Told you I am an electrical moron!

All of the lights will be low wattage LED so I am not worried about additional load on the circuit.

thanks!!

Either one will work.

just keep on keeping on. Black to brass, white to bright.

See! you're not such a Moron........

Yes

A "clothesline" will be easier than having a "spider" coming out of the first fixture.

Bingo.

This.

You can only add so many wires to a connection before they just won't all fit inside their respective wire nuts without adding pigtails.

Doing the chain method is the simplest way for your skill level.

Run them in parallel so that when one bulb burns out the others will continue to work. If you run the in series when one bulb burns out, they all go out and you can't tell which is the bad bulb.

KC

Black to black and white to white with the romex IS parallel.

please do not attempt electrical work by yourself

Get professional guidance, if you do.

Holy Crap!!!

But maybe he wants 'brown' light?

I quit doing that chit years ago. I have an electrician buddy that comes over, does what I want done, we share a beer, and he leaves. Simplest way.

Telecom huh (me too)

OK -

Just keep extending the circuit like you have been but keep in mind 14 ga is only good for 15 amps. The "best practice" today is to keep lights and outlets separated so if you pop a fuse your not walking around in the dark. I.E. - I would not recommend putting power outlets before or after the light switch on the circuit.

lights always go in parrellel vs. series - so you have it right. If you get stuck and have questions PM me.

The Home Depot book on wiring is pretty good, look for it next to the electrical hand tool by where the conduit rack is. They were going to stop publishing them, so I'm not sure if they still have them.

BTW - what ever you do, don't hire KC for the job. Sounds like he had a bad episode with a string of Christmas lights when he was young .


Spot

if your breaker is 20 amp use 12 gauge. if its 15 use 14. electrical work isn't rocket surgery but attention to basic details is key. things like proper termination, tight connections, etc are extemely important. loose connections build heat and this causes scale to build up in connections causing load to go up and things to burn.

Some of y'all would have benefited from working with the old "Baldwin knob" electrical systems used prior to Romax cable.

The "snake" was ALWAYS alive.

my old house was knob and tube with a fuse box and balloon construction with the wiring all run here and there through the walls with blown in old insulation. now that there was some scary schit.

'lectricity and freight trains don't hardly ever just hurt you just a little bit.

I remodeled old buildings with knob & tube, years ago.
Still have some recovered tubes - they are ceramic and put a fine edge on a blade

I am a telecommunications person too (retired) but I installed the central office switching systems which included all the breaker panels, lighting, electrical receptacles, power systems (batteries, rectifiers to charge the batteries and diesel generators to charge the batteries if commercial power went down). Go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a book about home wiring and you'll never have to ask another question about home electrical work.

The biggest hurdle in home electrical is getting over the fear of it. Respect it by all means because electricity can kill you. But don't fear it. It's actually quite easy to do safely and there are numerous books on how to do it right.

Uff Da.

And yet those old knob and tube jobs did not burn down...

Captain Obvious rides again!!!!!!!!

This is how good I am with electricity.

I had a bad smoke detector and it was setting all of them off. I called my electrician and he said if they're older than 10 years to replace all of them, so I did.

I replaced 7 smoke detectors and only shocked myself 3 times.

Replacing a hard wired smoke detector with the breaker on is just like replacing a light switch with the power on.

When I went to shoeing school, I showed up on Sun afternoon to find all the fellas sitting in the dark with flashlights in the kitchen. Puzzled, I asked what was up.

They pointed to a breaker on the table. There's a bad breaker. Reggie (owner) is ascared of 'lectricity and has an electrician coming tomorrow. nobody can find the main breaker.

I went out to my truck for a screwdriver and changed the breaker with 9 fellers watching like I was doing magic.