Ceiling Wiring

I have four of these recessed light fittings in my bathroom ceiling:

http://s447.photobucket.com/albums/q...5.jpg&newest=1



I can't for the life of me work out how to change the bulbs (little 50W halogen ones).  The two ways that have been suggested to me (using duct tape on the bulb to unscrew it, and just pulling the whole fitting out) have failed miserably.



Any ideas ?



Thanks All
      

hi guys,



Im a 1st year apprentice sparks so pretty inexperienced! i have a job on during the week to wire a bathroom extractor fan in for my friend. He wants it to come on separately from the bathroom light.



Theres a 2 gang switch outside  the bathroom, one for landing lights other for bathroom. So im thinking of replacing this with a 3 gang switch for the fan.



Im gonna take permanent feed from one of the two other switches ie(bathroom or landing) to the fan switch 'common' to power it, then also take a permanent feed for the fan from the 'common' side of this new switch as its a timer fan.



Then switch feed from L1 on new switch to fan. And finally neutral from bathroom light fitting to fan. I know that these 3 cables going to fan have to be isolated at another switch before going to fan!



Am I on the right track. Thanks in advance.
      

Older house with the metal enclosed wiring has stumped me.  I am attempting to add a second switch for a fan off existing light switch in bathroom.  Existing wiring:  W,B,R from panel, W,B to light.  2 white wire are tied together, two black wires to one contact and red to other contact on switch.  Disconnected all wires and confirmed the black is live from panel.  It seems to me the light is seeing power the entire time since the blacks are connected? I'm confused, please help. how do I add another switch onto this circuit?  Thanks!
      

Hello,



I currently have one light switch which operates an outlet in one of my bedrooms.  I want to add a ceiling fan that has independent switches for the fan and light - but I want to make sure i'm wiring it correctly and safely.



Current (First Pic)- Live hot feeds into bottom of switch (bottom insert hole) and the all of the bedroom outlets (pig-tailed) tie into the bottom of the switch on the screw.  Coming out of the top of the switch is one hot which feeds to a single outlet.  All of the neutral and grounds are tied together.



New Plan (Second Pic)- Remove the constant outlet hot from the screw, add a new hot wire to the top of new switch and run a wire up to the attic for fan.  Add another hot wire from the bottom of that switch to the third switch and run another wire up to the attic for the lights.  Re-connect the constant outlet wire to the screw of the last switch.  Connect all the neutrals and all of the grounds together.



At the top of the ceiling, connect the neutrals and grounds together with the fans neutral and ground.  Connect the fan hot to the fan switch hot, and the fan light hot to the light switch hot.
      

Hi, I recently moved into a 1954 house with a  20amp electrical system, not the old fuse type, but there are no ground wires.



I removed an old light and replaced it with a light fan combo. As I removed the old light (after turning off the breaker) I noticed from the ceiling that there were 2 white wires tied together with a wire nut and 2 black wires, one attached to the white wire in the light and the other attached to the black one from the light. Feeling this was wrong and should be black to black, white to white, (even knowing full well the light was working fine before I disconnected it) I wired the fan the way I've always wired fan lights,  white to white, blue and black to black.  (again, knowing full well the light was working the other way). Turned breaker on then powered on switch. POP at the switch, breaker switched off. I reworked it back to the way it was before with whites tied off, black to white, black and blue to black, turned it back on and  viola, things worked fine. (I know, duh... Right???)

2 questions from this experience...

1. Why would the 2 whites be tied off with only black wires used?

And 2. It seems that one of the light switches in the same circuit as the blown one is now working soft. In other words, it used to make the normal click noise when turned on/off but now it just moves softly up and down without the click. Could I have damaged something when I mis-wired?
      

When repairing a light switch I came across this wiring in a supposed 3-way setting in my kitchen.  Two Single Pole Double Throw switches controlling a single light fixture. 



Check out the quick and dirty wiring diagram showing the way these are connected.  I believe there should be a 14/3 between the two switches right?



All I see is 14/2 coming in and a 14/2 going across to the other switch, and then a 14/2 going to the light. And why are the neutrals cut and wire capped?  This doesn't make sense to me, but the light does work from both switches.



Any insight will be greatly appreciated.



Cheers!
      

I am going to install some can lights throughout the house soon.  I have one light in the center of each room that is already wired up.  I will be patching the existing light boxes up to run the new can lights, utilizing the wiring that is already present. 



When hooking the extra lights up should I use 12/2 or 14/2 wire for running them in parallel?  There will probably be no more than 3 or 4 can lights per room ran with CFLs.  The current lights that are in each room take up to 3 bulbs per fixture.
      

I'm installing a new light in a closet with an in-line switch. Because of the build of my house, a mid-run receptacle is the only power source available without ripping open a bunch of wall and ceiling. I've got everything installed and tied into the receptacle with appropriate pig tails, but whenever I turn the power back on, the breaker for that circuit instantly flips. I've double-checked all the connections and wires, and they are connected to the appropriate terminals. Tied the pig tails into the terminals on the top socket of the receptacle.



Could this be the result of a faulty switch? The breaker trips whether the switch is in the off or on position, and there are no bulbs in the light fixture. I'm stumped. The receptacle in question is rarely used, and I've powered off everything else in the room to be on the safe side, but the breaker trips.
      

I am installing a ceiling fan for my mom and the wiring has me a little confused. I posted pictures below of the ceiling fan wiring and the light fixture wiring. Just need to know how to connect the two together without burning down the place. Thanks in advance






      

Hi,



I would like to wire a switch to be able to cut the power to the ceiling mounted outlets that feed our garage door openers. Running new wiring to them will be a bit cumbersome, so I am hoping to avoid that. The ceiling outlets are powered by light fixtures in the garage (one near by each outlet). There is a 3 wire romex cable running from the light switch to the first light and another one between the lights, and then regular 2 wire romex cables from the light fixtures to the outlets. The red wires in the 3 wire cables to the lights are switchable, the black wires are always hot.



I mainly want to be able to cut the power to the doors when we are away on vacation, and the reason for that is that one night both doors somehow opened up - I have no idea why. I'd hate for that to happen when we're away. Unplugging and plugging in the openers is a bit of a hassle due to the high ceiling.



I thought about wiring in a switched outlet so that I could just reach up with a long handle of some sort and switch off the power to the outlet. It would not be ideal, but definitely easier than getting the ladder out and unplugging the door openers.  However, there is possibly another option that I'd like some input on if anyone cares to comment. I believe I could wire in a switch on the wall next to the light switch that would allow me to cut the power to the black wires in the 3 wire cables. This would cut the power to the ceiling outlets and anything downstream from there (possibly an outside light, I would need to check on that).



My question is, are there any potential issues with this sort of wiring? Is there perhaps any code violation if both hot wires in a 3 wire cable can be switched off separately?



Thoughts?