Replace Ceiling Light With Receptacle

Always disconnect the power by flipping the room s circuit breaker before working with electricity.

Replace ceiling light with receptacle.

Ceiling fixtures hang by two screws that attach the fixture base to the outlet box or to a mounting strap in the outlet box. In some houses light switches on the wall might control individual outlets where you can plug in lamps and other lights. Since there was a light fixture in the place where you re now installing a receptacle the junction box is probably one of your octagon shaped boxes which means that you will have to go to your hardware store to get a special round recaptacle cover for your receptacle. It s not the same as replacing any other outlet.

If you re wondering how you install a light fixture without an electrical box the short answer is that you don t. Other wires may pass through the box but you have to deal with only three wires. A colored wire usually black a white wire and a green. Disconnect your lighting circuit at the main service panel.

The only difference is that depending on where the receptacle is located in the wiring scheme of your house it may have more wires attached to it than you find attached to a light switch. You can add a ground wire to your electrical box in the ceiling for an extra measure of safety when replacing a ceiling light. Converting a ceiling light to a receptacle is a convenient and inexpensive way to provide an outlet for ceiling mounted devices. Mount your receptacle to your junction box using the two screws connected to the receptacle.

Then unscrew the current light fixture and separate its wires from the ones in the ceiling. No matter how you suspend a fixture from the ceiling the wiring is simple. If you have a little electrical experience and a basic toolkit you can replace your old ceiling light socket yourself. They re really convenient but if you ever need to replace that outlet there are some important things you ll need to keep in mind.

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