Electrical wiring is my short suit.
I tried to Google search and the results were either too complicated or too vague Most were multi-speed ceiling fan diagrams.

I have a ceiling light fixture that is operated by a wall light switch.
I want to add a simple [On/Off] pull chain mechanism to the light.
It doesn't have one now.

The one I purchased had instructions on the back:
'Carefully mark the wires and instal this one the same way'

This should be easy but, I have tried several configurations and either get light on or off at the wall switch, the pull chain doesn't control the power as it should.

1) There is a black wire and a white wire coming out of the ceiling.
2) The light has two wires [same color] plus a copper ground.
3) The pull chain mechanism has two black wires.

What is hook-up for these wires so that with the wall switch [On] position, I can control the light with the Pull chain?

I appreciate any help that won't leave me with Don King hair.

 

a couple of questions first.


Do you want both the pull chain and wall switch to remain operable? Or is the pull chain to replace the wall switch? Ultimately, having 2 switches to control the light can be a PITA.


Now, to figure out which wire is hot, loosen both wires from the fixture. Turn on the switch. Take each wire and gently scratch the metal junction box. The one with the spark is hot. Don't worry. This is safe. We just want to make sure the wires are not crossed (with white being hot)

Those damned goat electricans just operate by a different code.



Color of pul chain wires is irrelevant. A switch is just a circuit interrupter. In one end, out the other (just like a hamburger)

In theory, a basic light is the same as the switch, power in one end and then back out the other end. The color shouldn't matter unless there is something else there (like a motor for a fan)


In the end, there should be 3 wire nuts (3 joints) in the box. Hot to switch wire 1, swicth wire 2 to fixture wire 1, fixture wire 2 to neutral.

 

Question of my own. I haven't added a pullswitch to a fan, but are you in effect making it a 3 way circut? If so then you need to wire it as such or you'll end up like me and have an electrician come over to switch two wires after you're done.

 

Yes.
The reason I'm doing this is, the wall switch controls two different ceiling lights. Sometimes this is just too much light for the room.
I thought if I put a pull chain on one of the lights, I could still use the wall switch for both but, have the option of turning one off via the pull chain.

So the wall switch sends power and controls both
and the pull chain controls one (as long as the light switch is On).

I'm looking for some "black wire connects to this, white wire connects to that' directions.

Black ceiling wire is the hot one.

 

Why not just add some remotes to them both its a simple plug in and now you can dim, turn each one off/on whatever and control the fan speed with the touch of a button. They are cheap to buy and easy to install

 

There isn't a fan involved. That's what was making the 'search' difficult.
Everything was explaining all the fan/light hookups and the diagrams looked like a configuration behind the ****pit of a 747.

I already have $3.95 invested in the pull chain mechanism and the lady at Home Depot told me if I brought anything else back, she'd slap me.

Basically I had a black to black and a white to white connection previously
and I want to put in an interrupt with this little pull switch that has two wires.

 

You should be able to put the pull switch between the black from the ceiling and the black on the light.

This still requires the wall swtich to be on in order for power to flow to the pull chain switch. However at that point you should be able to individually turn off the light that is hooked to the chain. Flipping the wall off is going to kill the fan's power completely and no switch even a Triton one isnt going to make that work.

Unless I'm missing something it is:

black ceiling --> pull chain wire --> black light.

 

J-150 gave it to you straight

black (hot) ceiling wire to switch wire 1
switch wire 2 to fixture wire 1 (whichever was used as hot before)
white ceiling wire (neutral) to fixture wire 2 (whichever was used as neutral before)
sounds like there should be a place for a ground wire on the switch too, then you would tie all three ground wire together.

The hot goes into the switch then into the fixture so the switch will interrupt, neutral wires bypass switch and everything is grounded.

Then again I'm a very AMATEUR home electrician

 

I give up.
Ok guys, I'll buy a fan.

I thought I tried 'black to pull switch to black' but, maybe I didn't pull the chain enough to turn it on and off.

I'll give it another try tonight.

 

dangit I thought I caught all my fan references....


Off to the corner with my Triton hat on. :o

 

I'm not an electrician but it should be as simple as Black to Black and White to White. The other two (blks) that come out for the light fixture shouldn't matter. Those two are probably a lighter gauge and multi strand, instead of the solid core wire used in the junction box connection.

Make sure that the breaker is thrown. Becasue there is a code that allows a unit to have a ground break. Which means that there is always power going to the light even with the switch off. In that set up the swtich breaks the ground connection not the power to the fixture. If you didn't wire it originally then you dont know for sure. Better safe than sorry. The reason I say this is becasue if it is then the new switch may not work becasue it could be acting as a ground.

(Black) is hot
(White) is ground
(Green or Bare) is safety ground

 

And if J-150's advice about lightly tapping the black on the box to check for spark doesnt work....say cause it is a plastic box....call in the wife or dog or least favorite kid and ask them to hold it for a second.


(btw J...just messing with ya...I do that all the time...my wife just walks away though. She swears its better to wire in the dark than to do it with the power on.)

 

This thread is kind off related to one of my "What pisses you off" posts.
I was standing on a stool working the light fixture, not sure if the power was off or not. I was tense and just as I was about to touch the wires, ...the phone rang.

I had to climb down, answer the phone and then go change my underwear.

 

if you find yourself dancing like MC Hammer, chances are you're being electrocuted. Feel free to let go of the wires in question.

 

heh heh... no sweat.
Plastic box? good point except a plastic box still requires a metal bar for grounding...


My Dad (RIP) was a master electrician so I learned a few things. I also learned the trick of shorting an outlet with a single length of wire in each of the hot & neutral openings... to save myself a trip to the breaker panel.