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4 lights on one switch - switch not at begin/end

Asked Jul 17, 2012, 04:14 PM — 7 Answers
I'm replacing a kitchen light with 4 pot lights.

The existing light was Power->Light->Switch

To save ripping my entire ceiling down, I want to wire as follows:

Power->L1->L2->Switch->L3->L4

Is this possible and/or permissible? I have it wired like this now but when I turn the switch to on, the lights are nowhere as bright as they should be. When I started removing lights from the circuit (L3 & L4 initially, then L2, L3 & L4) the light output got brighter (what seemed to be twice as bright then full brightness respectively).

Hopefully I will be able to accomplish my lighting task without too much damage to my existing ceiling.

Thanks.

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7 Answers
hkstroud's Avatar
hkstroud Posts: 8,498, Reputation: 3429
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#2

Jul 17, 2012, 04:58 PM
You can only do that if you have a 3-wire cable between L1 and L2.
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WannabeGuru's Avatar
WannabeGuru Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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#3

Jul 18, 2012, 05:46 AM
Thanks Harold.

How would the wiring connections be done with the 3 wire?
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hkstroud's Avatar
hkstroud Posts: 8,498, Reputation: 3429
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#4

Jul 18, 2012, 08:48 AM
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WannabeGuru's Avatar
WannabeGuru Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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#5

Jul 18, 2012, 09:27 AM
Thanks very much Harold.

One further question; what if the wires for light 3 & 4 branch from light 1 instead of L2? It's a bit of a convoluted mess but it was my only option other than tearing out a bunch of ceiling?
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hkstroud's Avatar
hkstroud Posts: 8,498, Reputation: 3429
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#6

Jul 18, 2012, 11:54 AM
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WannabeGuru's Avatar
WannabeGuru Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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#7

Aug 3, 2012, 03:03 AM
Thanks for all the help Harold. This worked perfectly and now my lights are as bright as intended.
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tkrussell's Avatar
tkrussell Posts: 9,673, Reputation: 3698
Senior Electrical & Lighting Expert
  
#8

Aug 3, 2012, 06:04 AM


Harold's sketches and drawings are, to say the least, outstanding.

Just a comment to the installer, when a white wire is used to feed power to a switch, called a switch loop, the white wire needs to be re-identified as a hot, usually black marker, or at least black tape.
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