How to Replace a Porch Light Fixture for Beginners
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- Опубликовано: 14 июн 2017
- Leah demonstrates how to easily remove an old porch light, and replace it with a newer and more modern model.
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Leah, what a wonderful role model you are for young women today! I always love watching your videos and have learned a lot from you. This porch light video is another example of what a wonderful teacher you are. You should have your own TV show!
thank you so much, Rose!
I told my friend that I wanted to replace my porch fixture, and she said her handyman had done hers. I thought, "I bet Leah would say I can do this." I DID IT!! Between this video and the one about installing a ceiling light fixture, I knocked it out of the park. Thank you for the instruction, and most importantly, for the encouragement. I would never have tried it without you.
You reduce the intimidation factor for so many things and make DIY look easier! I have had 5 outdoor replacement lights, waiting for over a year for me to hire an electrician to install. I may just install them myself and save $$! Thank you!
:)
Do it! I watched this video and replaced 2 different outside light fixtures myself. Super easy if you follow the video
I really like how you were able to do this without having a second set of hands to hold the new fixture while you were installing it. Some of us live alone and don't want to bother a friend to ask for help.
Leah, you’re the best! You’re helping me through a second project with this tutorial. I always check for your instructions first, because you’re thorough, precise, and clear, and you don’t ramble on too much about things that don’t matter! Thank you!
Thanks for the video!! I've been wanting to replace 3 fixtures on my house 2 on garage and 1 near front door now I have the confidence to do so. God bless you
Great video. I appreciate the way this video assumes no prior knowledge of this project and brings it down to the most basic level. I also think the touch of using the duct tape to secure the wires is great tip.
Thank you so much, Joel!
This is incredible, Leah. We just decided, yesterday, that we wanted to update our porch and driveway light fixtures although we weren't sure we knew what we were doing. Your timing is so fortuitous for us. As always, thank you for sharing your knowledge and adding your encouragement. I'm sure that I can do this, now.
New homeowner here. Thanks for this great video.
Such a cute light you picked out. Even though I've been afraid of electric in the past, I'm ready to move forward and conquer it. Thanks so much Leah
A lot of folks can use this as a sample of how easy to DIY projects. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for this video! I had a front porch light that needed to be replaced for 5 years. You made it easy and now im looking for a reason to do my back porch light
Hi Leah,
I have been following you and saving your videos on Facebook for a while and I told myself today that I re wired my table lamps all by myself last year with a y tube video and now I need new outdoor porch lights put up and said I bet I can do it and I also bet Leah has a video to show me how and yes you do. Thank you so much! Went to Lowes today and bought some decent coach lanterns not too expensive but still look nice to replace the existing ones and will do it tomorrow. The old ones are so old they are corroded and the bulbs won't come out so it's time to get it done.
A good tip is to also bring a flashlight so you can see what you are doing once the power is out. I always have a small, powerful pocket LED flashlight in my pocket at all times. I use it every day.
same here, I use a head mounted light
You made that look so easy! I have a back porch light that needs replacing, I think I can do this! Thank you!
I'm sure you can.
Awesome Leah! Me and my son just installed a porch light thanks to your help. I refuse to pay somebody too much money to do such simple things. Thank you!
Great informative video. I was able to change my faulty porch light myself! I feel so overpowered - I did it!! Thank you so much Leah.
you're welcome, and way to go!!
I have 3 lights to change and feel like I can do it myself!! Thank you for the instructional video, you make it seem way more approachable!
good luck with your projects
Like others, I check your videos first to see if you've got what I need...you always do! I'm going to tackle this job tomorrow. Thank you for the encouraging and thorough videos. I CAN do this!
That was so so clear and easy to understand, thank you for that excellent video!
Thank you, Leah! You are a great teacher! I wish I could follow you around for a year as an apprentice.
Jane, Thank you so much! I want to replace my porch light with one that has a motion sensor. Your instructions have given me the confidence to try this on my own! We really can do this!
that's great! Good luck with your project!
From one Leah to another, thanks! I'm planning to replace my porch lights tomorrow and this was super helpful.
oh wow i have 3 lights to replace and a local handyman was gonna charge me $35 each light. now i feel very confident i can do this myself and save that money
Thank you Leah for your help and all the great information!
Leah, you are the BEST!
That is a nice video and you did a great job as always putting it up. I like the new light as it is brighter, and helps in showing who is coming up to your front or rear door.
Great job as always!
Thanks,! Love the simplicity! I subscribed!
All your videos are awesome... Thanks for this, I have new porch light to install and feel much more confident now I know what t o expect...
You rock and inspire me!!
Great demonstration video!
THANK YOU!! THIS IS EXTREMELY HELPFUL!!
Thank u for video. U give me motivation on tacking things on my to do list...(which is long).. lol.. thanks
:)
I can do that!! I'm going to do that! Now I'm going to search your videos for how to install a post light! THANK YOU!! I'm so tired of relying on ppl to do things for me. Meanwhile all this time, I could have done it myself! Thank u Thank u Thank u!
Dave has changed a few in all these years. Good job.
:)
Hi, Leah, I finally purchased the Dremmer UltraMax you reviewed in a past video. I'm excited about all the projects I have in mind for it. ;)
Good luck you project and have fun with the new toy :)
Nice and easy quick project. Even though I turn off the power and test the circuits after for power, I still feel uneasy about working around wires. Looking at the old light, it could be a candidate for PBS's Antique Roadshow. It might be an American treasure.
An "american treasure" that's funny.
Thank you for the video, I thought I was going to need a handyman to do it for me.
It took me a bit longer to install my light because I had a circular mounting panel and had to figure out which holes to use for the mounting screws for the fixture Ugh! But I did it! Thanks for showing me how!
I ❤️ U 😊. Thank you for your help!
Excellent!
so it was time to install the back patio porch light after taking the light out of the box and seeing 100 different wires I started to freak a little I watched a few videos and then I said to myself where is my kill in my head and of course U were the next video no S. After watching your video I felt a little more secure it made a little more sense although the red is the hot on my house it’s a 1950s-thanks for all the help jill~Jack out
Thank you!!
Thank you!
I liked the old light fixture and I like your new one. cool video though, thanks
Another tip is to snip the wires to the old fitting near the terminals rather than try to hold the fitting in one hand and disconnect them with the other. Not only easier,, but faster.!! ;-)
Agreed
But you shoud really take care to cut the fixtures cables. You cannot imagine installing fixtures around friends houses and condos how short the installation wires may grow ;)
Good job
Thank you , wow
I like your idea of using electrical tape to strengthen wire stability.
I just bought an old house that was built in 1900 and this helps a lot. I want to replace the porch light with something a little nicer
Congrats on the home and good luck with all of your future projects.,
You now have me inspired to try to replace my 3 outside lights (electrical stuff has always scared me). But, wondering if I have to buy some additional stuff first? 1) Does the copper grounding wire come with a new light fixture or do I need to purchase some at the local hardware store? 2) What is the wire tester thing called or can I just use my battery tester? 3) Do I need to get some new wire nuts/connectors or can I use the existing old ones? Thanks bunches!!!
Good video, one small critique, I think you wound the ground wire the wrong way should be clock wise it should be ok since you had lots of spare wire. Very good instructions for those who need it.
Nice work, I like the old one; did have some character. Is that a Tungsten bulb that you put into the new unit?
Many people share your sentiment. No to the Tungsten
Thanks!! Didn’t see u turn off the breaker box... just the light switch??
hello Leah I love your channel keep up the good work.....i know the is off topic but can you do a video on how to get rid Mold....im renting a house and the garage has some mold in it...thanks for your time
Is it black mold on drywall.
It's black and greenish on the ceiling
Is it drywall or plaster walls? It matters.
dry wall on the ceiling
Hi leah sorry I have a question for me now. lol .. in my garage I have one electrical socket in the ceiling where my bulb lights up. but I need more light in my garage so I am going to be installing more elctrical sockets can I use the existing outlet to piggy back and run wire to the new ones ill be adding? and is this code approved? and if the answer is yes what is the maxium amount of sockets I can add from that one existing one.. I hope this makes sense lol
Did the GREEN GROUNDING SCREW come with the new light fixture, or did you buy separately? THX
Nice way to save a bit of money.
Yep
I want to make sure I didn't miss anything, is it alright to leave the ground wire?
Leah, question... My sister recently purchased a used ceiling chandalier however after checking out the wires on the chandalier they look clear but no indication which goes to hot and which goes to neutral. any suggestions??? thanks much appreciated
Hi Oscar, I would suggest trying to find the manual online for the model that she purchased
My issue I had was my junction box seemed further back and when I tried screwing in the mounting bracket, it made it seem like the screw was short but when the electrician came out and installed it it was fine I dont know what I did wrong. Ive done basic swapping out of sconces before. Oh well. Hopefully next time goes better
Next time!
When I went to replace the light it called for an installation of a metal circle bracket that is bigger than the small box that is already there. What do you do in this situation? It looks like there is no way for me to mount it without making the circle bigger but I have stuçco. Help!
Hello, My question: is there a difference in wire nut size? if so, what size did you use? I look forward to your response.
Yes, there is a difference in wire nut size. In my experience, it depends on the gauge or size of the wire you're splicing. Thicker wires use larger nuts - thinner wires use smaller nuts. I'm not an electrician but that has been my experience as a pretty decent DIYer.
Usually the light you buy will provide the proper nut size that's included with it.
some ground/earthwires could also be green with yellow trace (perhaps thats australia only thing) but not sure.
thanks, Neil!
how is the weather there, thinking about moving to Tacoma with son?
Do you like the rain?
it don't bother me
Hi! What is that tool called you used to see if the wires were still live? I’m all about DIY but it stops at electrical. I’m super nervous about doing this porch light replacement myself.
Klein votage tester
I understand you nervousness.....
@@seejanedrill thanks! I just ordered one.
Hi Leah, I'm a stickler for small details and I noticed that you wrapped the ground wire counter clockwise instead of clockwise.I'm sure you were probably in a hurry to beat the rain.Love your vids.
CW is correct for stranded wire, because wrapping stranded wire CCW can cause some of the strands to be forced outwards. With a single core (which it was) the situation is a little less clear. Wrapping a single core CW can result in the core being stretched and the conductor area decreasing, or even conductor fracture over time.
That said, it's something that wouldn't happen here in the UK. That kind of termination is frowned upon here. Precisely because it's so easy to do it badly. Here the terminal would be a set screw in a metal tube. Which has different reliability issues if the end of the screw doesn't have a clean finish. Or a ring/spade terminal crimped onto the wire for the type of terminal screw used in the video.
Thanks for the info from the U. K.but here in the states ,stranded or solid is wrapped clockwise.
+Tom Mont
I can't tell you what UK regulations state about this because I don't ever recall seeing this type of connection used in domestic wiring, or anywhere else. It may well be used in dodgy Chinese electrical death traps available on eBay, but they generally don't connect the earth wire at all (it's present but floating).
I'm going by fading memories from working in the avionics industry many years ago. There's no way that type of connection would have been allowed in avionics, but I have vague memories of some analogous situation which leads me to suspect CCW would be slightly better than CW for solid wire.
But faced with that type of termination I wouldn't wrap in either direction. I'd crimp on a ring terminal to give a connection that's far more reliable.
Hey Tom, You've got a great eye. I did mistakenly wrap counter-clockwise. After video taping that section of the wiring, I turned to the camera person and said, "which way did I just wrap that?" We both stood there rotating ours fingers....LOL. My memory failed me and we continued on.
Anyway, you bring up a great teaching point for those that do not know... that you wrap the wire clockwise for a secure connection. If you wrap the counter-clockwise it can back the wire off the terminal screw.
bdf2718 Please see Leah"s reply to me.
the wires coming into the box from the house are really short how can I fix this?
put extension short wier u will get long wier
Probably a silly question... But if you turn off the power at the switch, do you really need to turn the breaker off too? I mean why take the chance, but I'm so lazy... :P
I got a little zap last time I did that, so maybe turn it off haha.
Yep, I always play it safe. What if someone in the house doesn't realize that you're working on a fixture outside and turns on the switch.
seejanedrill Sure thing, it makes sense
Also depending on the wiring scheme and on what devices might be connected to the neutral as well, a neutrall can conduct a live voltage to you, especially if you get into the unfortunate situation to connect the neutral to ground through your body.
This is most likely to happen in case someone did some wiring wrong or some device is faulty, but for changing a fixture and very likely standing on a ladder you do not want to take chances, as getting zapped will not be the main thing to hurt you.
Saving some time I have seen a lot of electricians who also do it that way, and I am guilty of having changed switches and outlets on live wires myself, but then you really want to make sure no one will operate a switch and to use properly insulated tools and thinking about it one should very soon realize, that switching off at the breaker is the easiest and most convenient thing to do.
Why do you have two black wires and two white wires.
Because it is not a stand alone fixture, there are two and one is connected to the other.
Hello handyman
Too dark
More modern? Looks like a lantern
I watched this because I wondered how wiring practises differed between the US and the UK.
Let me say this first: I'm *sure* you complied with all relevant regulations. Because I know you wouldn't do anything the wrong way. You're too professional not to do everything to perfection. So anything that looks bad compared to UK practise is down to US wiring standards, not your workmanship. Now I've said that...
You made me cringe, more than once. Yeah, you have 110V and we have 240V, so your supply is a little more forgiving than ours, but yeeek!
Those wire nuts. I've never seen them in the UK, but just looking at them made me shudder. I had to do some digging to find out why we don't use them. One reason we don't use them is that we tried them in the past, back when they were ceramic, and they tended to break. The idea went out of favour. The reason most good electricians won't touch them even now is that they damage the wires slightly each time you remake the joint and if you do regular inspections properly you would disconnect them in order to run an insulation test of the fitting. As far as I can tell they're not banned here, but competent electricians wouldn't use them (we do have many incompetent ones, though, so I expect to see them any day now).
Earthing the fitting to that mounting bracket. Nooooooooooooooooooooooo. Illegal here. Earth continuity *must* be maintained after fixing screws have been removed. We'd earth the fitting directly to the box, not the bracket. Because if you take the bracket off to fiddle with something then the fitting could go live because of a loose wire inside it. Sure you turned off at the switch and the breaker, but who trusts that? :) Seriously, the principle here is that the idiot home owner has to *really* work at it to electrocute him/herself.
That naked earth wire. Illegal here. Because you stuff the slack into the box, where it could then come into contact with a bit of bare wire entering a wire nut. You taped your wire nuts but that wouldn't make it legal here. Here you *must* fit sleeving (green/yellow striped to comply with our standards for cable colours) to naked earth wire. Not even incompetent electricians fail to do that. Oh, I tell a lie, the idiot who wired the place I live in did that in one place (along with three other major errors to do with the same light fitting).
Seriously, US wiring standards scare me.
Beeing German and beeing used to our "electrical code" I always cringe when I see those wire nuts as well. I am also not sure if wire nuts are banned, but I am very sure they do not comply with current DIN and European standards. (Which make UK and German installations among each other a lot more comparable than general European and US installations, also UK and Germany certainly have differences. And yes, the UK has the superior plug design ;)
Usually here screwed connectors have been used, but I think those went out of favor as well, as they may damage the wire. today only clamping connectors are common, and for fixtures you have to pay attention to the type, because the usual stranded wires require different clamps to not damage the wires and probably reduce the wire gauge due to broken strands (Yes, that is the main concern for such thoughts, besides a risk of stray strands that might shorten out things) The Wago brand levered clamps I usually use even allow easy replacement as they can easily be opened with a lever.
bdf2718 you also mentioned an important thing about grounding, among the correct thing you already stated, at least here in Germany in newer installations RCDs are mandatory for the whole house. an uninsulated Ground might also easily create some connection tripping the RCD.
One more important thing to mention non US viewers have to bear in mind. Your wires might or will have completely different colors! In Europe there are for example two wire colors which may not be used for anything else in any situation. A Green yellow striped wire is always protective earth and it has to be in every junction, outlet, switch, fixture etc. (unless the fixture or device is of a certain double insulated type).
A blue wire always is the Neutral. In older DIN versions it was allowed to be used as a switched wire, but that should have been avoided even back then).
Phase, or Hot as Leah called it comming from the breaker is usually black. In three phase the three phases are marked by black, brown and grey. Switched wires might be black, brown or might even have other colors except for blue and green yellow. but most likely one will find black or brown.
And finally one last thought to play things safe. I you are unsure, don´t feel comfortable doing electrical work, even something as simple as changing a fixture, or are in doubt about the correct and proper wiring of a house you just bought and you suspect someone might have messed with the wiring, get yourself a licensed electrician.
For any thing related to Electricity, plumbing and especially Gas or HVAC related things, if feeling uncomfortable to do so, the best advise is don´t touch it.
@Sponge Bob Wire nuts are crap.
Happy now?