Thread: Electrical Question - wiring lighting

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Here's what I think is a fairly basic electrical question from someone who knows virtually nothing about wiring...

I was out at Lowes earlier today and picked up two outdoor flood lights (the type of dual-lights that you would mount on your garage or patio that can be angled). This particular set is switch-operated (no motion sensor). I got them because they were on clearance, and I thought I might be able to convert them to free-standing flood lights. I picked up two sets.

Now... before you read ahead... DON'T WORRY ... I haven't done ANY of this yet. So far these are just THOUGHTS ... and here I ask those with experience, whether or not my ideas are 1) (most importantly) SAFE, and 2) logical... ie, will work. So...

My thought wass that I might be able to wire them up like a regular lamp... using a regular lamp cord. I would pigtail the positive and negative wires together and then plug in. For my particular purpose, I wouldn't need a switch... they would be plugged into an outlet with a switch. Before I go any further, is this something that can be done? I want these lights to be free standing, not perminantly wired into the house electrical. They would only be for use in the Halloween display.

If the above is possible, how do I handle the grounding of the light? The lights I bought came with a metal bracket that gets screwed into the junction box. The grounding wire then attaches to a screw on this bracket, so the light is now grounded to the junction box. How would I deal with grounding the light if I want to make it free standing?

I fear asking this question will raise some eyebrows and maybe garner some chuckles... which is fair enough Please know that I'm not on some kind of suicide mission, nor do I want to hurt anyone else. This is why I am asking some question and attempting some research before actually doing anything. Anyone care to educate me?

I am far from an electrical expert and probably get by with sheer luck most of the time; however, I have used similar devices in the past/present and have not had any issues doing what you want. If you are unsure about the safety of the lights, either don't use them or ensure no one can touch them. I will usually take a computer power cable, cut off the female end, run it through pvc pipe for a post and wire it to the lights. Hopefully there is a green or blue screw to connect the ground wire to. Then connect it to a grounded extension cord. You can either mount a threaded rod or a pointy stick to the pvc and beat it into the ground. You can also cut one end of the pvc at a 45, drill a hold in the pipe about 5-6 inches from the base, run the cable through the hole and then you are able to beat the pipe into the ground.

Well, what you need to use for the power cord is a 3 wire cord like a extension cord ie. like the orange ones. The 3 wire cord has the hot, neutral and ground. Standard lamp cord only has the hot and neutral. Also lamp cord is designed to be polarized. Switching of the hot and neutral is very unsafe. They lamp cord is designed for a 2 prong outlet with no provision for a ground.

You need to use 3 wire cord so you can attach a 3 prong plug to have a ground. You attach the ground of the 3 wire cord to the ground inside the box. The cord you use should be at least 14 gauge, 12 gauge would be even better.

You don't sound like you're too confident about attempting this, so I would suggest asking for some help from somebody who is handy and comfortable with electricity. You could also consult one of those DIY type books about basic wiring. What you want to accomplish is entirely possible. I wired a similar flood light myself a year ago.

You shouldn't have any problem doing what you're wanting to do. Just get a grounded extension cord (or a PC cord, like Home Haunter said) and cut the female end off. Usually, you'll find black, white, and green wires in the cord. The black wire is hot, the white is neutral, and the green is ground. You'll probably have the same colors in your light fixture, & all you need to do is match the colors. If your fixture doesn't have a green wire, it should have a screw somewhere in the housing that you can connect the green wire to. Just make sure your connections are secure & insulated.

Thanks, everyone. The grounded extension cord had crossed my mind... I'll go that route. Thank you all for chiming in with advice.

I suppose Im not totally uncofortable with wiring... I've done some wiring around the house (installing lights, fans, etc) but that was always doing things the way they were intended to be used. I get cautious whenever I try to RIG something to be used other than as it's intended. I'm glad there are forums like this where we can feed off of eachothers experience. Thank you all so much!