Control three lights with one light switch.
Basic light switch wiring is something most homeowners can understand. There are three important wires, the black hot wire, the white neutral wire and the green ground wire. However, things can get a bit more complicated when you want to add one or even two more lights to that switch. Operating multiple lights on one switch is most commonly found in large rooms, like living rooms. Wiring your electricity this way makes it much more convenient than turning each light on separately.
Instructions
1. Turn off the electricity to the room you will be working in. Make sure the power is truly off by using a circuit tester.
2. Cut a piece of black, white and green wire with the wire cutters. These wires need to be long enough to stretch from your light switch to the first light. Cut a 4-inch piece of green wire.
3. Strip the ends of all three wires. Bend one end of the short green wire and the black wire with pliers. Loosen all screws on the switch with the screwdriver. Wrap the bent, green wire around the green screw and tighten the screw. Wrap the black wire around either of the other two screws and tighten the screw.
4. Wrap the black wire, coming from the electrical box where the switch will go, around the last screw on the switch and tighten the screw. Place one end of the stripped, white wire next to the white wire coming from the electrical box. Twist a wire nut over these wires to hold them together.
5. Place the short green wire, long green wire and green wire from the electrical box together and twist all three wires into a wire nut. Run the loose wire ends up to the first light.
6. Cut lengths of black wire, white wire and green wire long enough to reach from the first light to the second light. Strip both ends of all wires. Place the ends of all green wires together and secure with a wire nut. There will be three green wires: the wire from the switch, the wire from the light and the wire you just cut. Repeat this with the black wires and then the white wires. Run the loose ends of wire to the second light.
7. Cut white, green and black wires long enough to reach from the second light to the third light. Strip the ends. Connect the three green wires, the three black wires and the three white wires, the same way you did in the previous Step. Run the loose wires to the third light.
8. End the circuit by connecting the two green wires, the two white wires and the two black wires. There should be no more loose wires at the end of this Step.
Tags: green wire, black wire, black wires, green wires, first light
