Outdoor Led Soffit Lighting

Hello everybody! First things first..I don't know much about wiring besides there being a positive, negative and a ground.



I am in the process of gathering information about installing two lights on the soffit of the corners of my house. There is an outside light by the sliding glass door that I was going to tap into for power, since the switch for it is in the kitchen.



My question is will this be possible if I was to run two twin head flood lights off of the same switch.   (  http://www.lampsplus.com/products/br...ht__h9572.html   )





What would be the easiest way to run the wiring for this? Through the soffit or just through the attic? The problem with the attic is there is vaulted ceilings in a few rooms of my house so it is pretty much impossible to walk in the attic to the far side of my house...actually I don't even think it is possible with the amount of insulation and how the ceilings are.



How would I go about mounting the light to the soffit? A junction box? Will I have to run conduit?



Here is a picture of what I am trying to do. Excuse my art skills in paint.





Thank you!
      

We are revamping our patio area a bit which is off of our sun room.  I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of installing in-ceiling speakers in soffits?  If so, could you provide some tips in doing so? Thanks!
      

Just bought some LED lights for the porch, but I realized the new digital timer in wall switch I purchased to replace the on/off says it's for incandescent only.  Been looking online, but couldn't find anything specific for LEDs, what should I use?



Thanks,
      

This is kind of a complicated question, but I  think I have figured out how to do it right.  I wanted to run it by some folks here before going to the city code enforcer.  See the attached diagrams for details.



I  am planning a fairly elaborate lighting scheme for my home theater  area, mostly because I plan for the theater automation to be a hobby for  me. (I'm an electrical engineer)

 

I want to have banks of lights that I could later choose to group  differently onto dimmer switches.  For example, I have six can lights.   Some people I have talked to think I should dim the front four together  and back two separately.  Some think I should dim the front two together  and back four separately.  Some say I should dim them all together. 



So I decided I'd run each group of two cans to a junction box, run  the switches to a junction box, and then wire the switches to the lights  in the junction box - then I could later change it if I decided it should work  differently.  In addition, this would keep the junction boxes the  dimmers were in free from extra wires, since I plan to buy nice dimmers  that are fairly deep and would take more space in the switch boxes.  And  if I find that using switches differently would make it more intuitive,  I can change which switch controls which lights easily after the fact.   This would also allow me later to possibly control the lights with an  automated system.

 

There are some track lights and rope lights, as well as a couple  receptacles that would all come back to the junction box where they'd be  connected to the switches/dimmers.



I am bringing in power from  two circuits to balance the lighting.  I plan to put some of the lights  on one circuit and some on the other.  The second circuit has some other  stuff on it already, so it has less load left over, so most stuff will  go on the first circuit.

 

Also to save on wiring and make running wire easier, I was planning  to use 14/3 wiring where possible.  Any given 14/3 wire would  always be connected to only one of the circuits (no shared neutrals).



The attached files show my exact plan for each circuit. Note they both  share the junction box in the upper right corner of the pictures, they  also share the switch banks.  This allows me to decide which switches  control which lights, as well as decide which lights will be powered on  which circuit to balance them properly.  Note that the track lights are  each 2 circuit track, that's why I'm running 14/3 to each.

   

See the attached files for circuit #1 and circuit #2



I am running 14/3 NM to the switches.  I was planning to have two  switches share one 14/3 cable.  I am also running 14/3 to each group of  two light groups that I want to control separately.



I've also attached a diagram from the perspective of the junction box.



I also attached an example circuit on how I plan to use the 14/3 wire.

   

Here are some other decisions I made:



- The junction box will  be PVC 8x8x4 (256 cu. in.)  All the wires coming into the box add up to  70 cu in. so the box should be plenty large.

- All the grounds from both circuits will be tied together

  - The neutrals for both circuits will always be kept completely separate (NO shared neutrals)

- No 14/3 wire will ever carry power from more than one circuit (this would violate the shared neutrals anyway)



Even  though this is kind of elaborate and for hobby, I want to be sure to do  it safely and up to code.  Does anyone see anything wrong with  my plan?

 

Thanks,



Daniel
      

Hi all! 



I'm trying to install an outdoor box for my low voltage lighting controller unit.  I have an electrical junction box that's split from indoors and leads to a post lamp.  I'm wondering how I split this junction box off to a simple 110 receptical for my outdoor lighting controller.  I've attached a picture just in case I didn't explain well.  Thank everyone for the help!!!




      

I have started on a small project to expose the industrial aspects of an office space by removing the drop down grid ceiling. My question pertains to the office light fixtures and how to remove them safely.



All of the fixtures are connected to junction boxes (as pictured). Can I remove the fixtures safely by disconnecting them at the junction box as long as I am certain that the fixtures aren't on ( read: turned off at the light switch)?



I could possibly find and flip the breakers off, but this is an office building with other businesses in operation, so I would hate to cause someone any stress by flipping the wrong breaker. The breaker box is not labeled and is not just for the space that I am occupying.



Thanks in advance for any replies.



Kind Regards,

Cody
      

Hello. I'm a new home owner and DIY-er. I have 3 fluorescent lights  in my basement. I just replaced the fixtures' older ballasts with new  T8 ballasts in the first two lights and they work fine. I am having  trouble with the third light's wiring to the ceiling. I cut and removed  the old ballast without paying much attention because I was able to wire  the first two lights without any problem. I connected the new ballast  to the bulb sockets in the fixture, just like I did with the first two  lights. When I went to connect the ballast's black and white power lines  to the ceiling lines, I was thrown off by a red wire, which I guess is  connected to the light switch.  In addition, this light is connected to  the one of the other fluorescent lights and both are controlled by the  switch. I have attached  pictures of how I have it wired.



The way I have it wired now,  the other light turns on and works fine when the switch is flipped.  However, this light has the bulb flicker and then not turn on. If anyone  can tell what I'm doing wrong from looking at the pictures, I'd  appreciate any help! Thanks!
      

I'm using some lampholder fixtures for lighting in my garage and I'm wondering what to do with grounds?  There is nowhere to attach the ground wire to the box or fixture, so what do I do with it?  Neither the box or fixture is metal.  And what do I do with all the grounds in the switch box?
      

First off, I have read a majority of the posts concerning this subject and they have been very helpful and answered many questions, but I still have a few.



I am wanting to run power to a detached shed that is around 100 feet from the house. However, due to the location of my main panel and the easiest route to run the power, I am looking at running cable about 270 feet. I measured it out to exactly 263 feet, but figured it would be best to go longer. I am wanting to run at least 60 amps to the shed, as I won't be using it for nothing more then power outlets (basic power tools) and lights. Here are my questions:



1) What cable would be best for such a long distance run?



2) Would a 60 amp subpanel be sufficient for this job. I am looking at only 4 circuits: 1 for internal outlets, 1 for lighting, 1 for motion sensor light outside and 1 for external outlet. I am looking at the following panel:

http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-...&storeId=10051



I have seen some marked 70 amp and wondering if they make a difference:

http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-...&storeId=10051



3) Also, I will be installing a 30 amp RV connector circuit from my main panel  to the where I park my Camper Trailer, which is a run of about 75 feet. What would be the best cable for this sort of run under ground? Can I run both cable together in the same conduit until I junction if off to where I will be installing the plug for the camper?



4) Would the following be the circuit breakers to use:



60 amp - http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051



30 amp - http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051



I think that is it for now. Thanks in advance for all your help!!
      

In a previous thread (Wire suitable for underwater usage), I enquired about what cord types would be suitable for underwater usage because I was building a submersible fishing light to attract baitfish.  Well, the light is done, and the bulb "farthest away" from the battery is by far the brightest in the chain (I hesitate to say chain since they are wired in parallel). 



Attached image "photo 1" is a picture of the light I made.  Notice the bulb all the way to the left is far brighter than the rest.



All bulbs used are the same spec, and look like this:



To wire the bulbs, I cut the flange off with a Dremel tool so that they would fit in the tube.  Two pair of them have their terminals soldered together (neg to neg, pos to pos...that's the "gap" you see in the lighting), and the first bulb in line is upside down, with it's terminals facing the incoming wiring.  The first bulb receives the wiring from the main line, then hookup wire is used to jump from those terminals to the next set, etc. 



There IS one anomaly with the final/far left bulb.  When I was cutting off the flange, I accidentally cut too far on that piece, basically severing the terminals from the bulb.  So, when wiring it into the circuit, I had to improvise and soldered the hookup wire directly into the solder points located on the bulb itself (instead of the underside).  Hopefully you can see what I'm talking about in attached "photo 2."



I have no idea why this anomaly would make the bulb brighter though.  Can anyone think of any other reason the bulb would be brighter?  Unfortunately, I cannot do any readings on the individual bulbs because I did not notice this until everything was soldered into place and the lamp sealed/waterproofed).