Disclaimer: I am one of the most non-handy people on the planet, so forgive my total "newbie" question.

We are in the middle of a kitchen remodel. I need to install two housings for recessed lights and run them both off of one switch. The switch is already set up and I have a wire running to where the first light will be, but I am not sure how to chain the two lights together.

Here's a photograph of the wiring box. It has something called "Quick connectors".

Do I simply connect both wires (the wire from the switch and the wire to the second light) to the available holes in the quick connectors?

enter image description here

In case it makes a difference, I scanned the instructions.


You've got it. Just make sure that in the light fixtures you use all black in one connector, all white in the second and all bare wire in the third (from your hand-drawn wiring, it looks like that's how you plan to do it). That way, the lights are wired in parallel so that they both get the full mains voltage across them when you turn on the switch.

Also make sure that the switch is connected to the live (black in this case) wires in the two cables, which means that no electricity can reach the light fixture when the switch is off (which could save your life if you accidentally touch the live terminal in the fixture when changing a bulb).

  • also make sure that the switch is connected to the black wires in the two cables What does that mean? Put the switch on negative?- that is exactly what you DO NOT WANT TO DO !You need the POSITIVE(white) to be cut(switched) not NEGATIVE(black)!? – Piotr Kula Jul 4 '11 at 15:47
  • @ppumkin: both the OP and I are in the US, where electrical code has live on the black wire and neutral on white. But edited to make it clearer that that's the case – Niall C. Jul 4 '11 at 15:50
  • Really? :) makes me think how long I would last in USA as an electrician.. – Piotr Kula Jul 4 '11 at 16:13
  • 1
    Wow. The white wire is hot, you drive on the left side of the road. The U.K. is like a whole different country. ;-) – Craig Tullis Nov 30 '14 at 0:07

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