I have some additional wiring that I need to add to my set up. I have an additonal outlet and (2) rope lighting outlets (dimmed from seperate switch) that need to be wired up in my riser and another dimmer to install w/ (4) rope lighting outlets that will be near the ceiling for lighting behind some crown. All this will be powered from an existing circuit near my future bar w/ (3) outlets, one of them being a GFI.

Here are my questions.

When tapping into power from the existing outlet, is it proper technique to use the additional connection points on the existing outlet (say current power is from wires going into the outlet on the push in connectors on the rear and I grab my new power from the screw terminals on the same outlet) or should I disconnect the current power from the outlet, twist up the old leads to (2) new sets of wires (one for the old outlet and one for my new power)

Also when wiring up the (4) sets of rope lighting outlets should I bring the wires from each outlet to a common box in the attic to tap into the power from the dimmer switch or should they be daisy chained from outlet to outlet?

I looked at some wiring diagrams online for multiple lights from a single dimmer and they pretty much confused me. I am just going to wire everything in parallel (blacks to black, white to white and grounds together). Is this wrong?

For extending the existing out go with your second option. Its called a pigtail. Three wires for each lead twisted together. One is incomming, one to the outlet and one out totje next outlet. I would suggest the same set up for you rope light outlets.

Hmmm I thought about this a little more. The method of pigtailing each lead in the recepticle, thereby having (for each wire, black, red and ground) the incomming wire, outgoing wire and the wire to the outlet spliced together with a cap will result in a parallel circuit. This works fine for alway-on outlets. I am not sure if this works for switch/dimmered outlets.

In the dimmer you have the hot incomming wire connected to the dimmer, then the hot outgoing wire towards the recepticles connected to the neutral terminal on the dimmer. The neutral incomming (from breaker box) is spliced to the neutral outgoing. In a one outlet/light situation the outgoing wires from the switch will be connected to the correct position on the outlets. If you go forth and wire the next set of outlets in parrallel I don't know what would happen and/or if its to code. I am afraid there may be to much power running through the dimmer this way. The only other option is to wire the rest of the outlets in serial but then all the plugs need to be utilized or the circuit will be broken...I think...As you may be able to tell I am new to electrical myself...maybe I should have kept my mouth shut ;-)

In other words get a second opinion on the dimmer question ;-)

If you have the outlet out and it has push in connectors do yourself a favor and replace it with an outlet that secures the wire with a screw not a spring. Push in connections are against code in many areas because over time the connection can weaken, creating resistance which leads to heat, then fire.

I was lucky. I had a circuit die. After hours of searching I found that the push in connections on the back of the outlet in the garage had gone bad. When I pulled it out of the box I found that the back looked like charcoal briquette.

As an added "do yourself a favor" always splice wires with the plastic caps (make sure its the correct size also, different colors are used for different sizes and quantities of wires spliced). And don't use the recepticle as a means to splice (sort of part of your question).

I was lucky. I had a circuit die. After hours of searching I found that the push in connections on the back of the outlet in the garage had gone bad. When I pulled it out of the box I found that the back looked like charcoal briquette.


Actually had one cause a fire in my former MIL's house built in the early 60s. Caught the back of a couch on fire. We smelled it, and fortunately the back of the couch was synthetic so it didn't go up in flames as much as smoldered. We managed to carry it out of the house, but it was a sleeper/sofa and MAN was it heavy to try to get out in a hurry. It was a frequently used outlet until the couch went there and the hot lead had come lose and was arcing. The back of the frame was metal and it eventually arced to the frame and caught the fabric.

DON'T USE SPRING-TYPE PUSH-INS.

Tom

Thanks for the responses. I'll switch out the push in to the screw type for any of the outlets I pull out. I am going to leave all the rest of the outlets in the building alone.

No takers on how to run multiple lights from one dimmer? Seems like it would be a fairly common situation in most people's room. I'll see if I can post an electrical diagram for someone to help me understand. When I looked online a few months ago, it had me scratching my head. Now I am to the point where I need to wire it up.

The crazy thing is I hooked up one dimmer to (4) sconces in my last theater and I don't remember how I did or even if it was correct, but it has worked for 3 yrs and hasn't burnt down anything yet.

I looked around and almost all of the diagrams I found that had multiple light on one switch/dimmer used three wire (14/3) as opposed to two for wiring up multiple lights. I don't now if its has to be that way. But its possible that may be why is was confusing. Add another wire it gets way more complicated :)

fillydee,

Your best to daisy chain from outlet to outlet with a pigtail as mentioned. That way if anything goes wrong in the future, you or the next owner (that wont know about this) wont have to look for a box in the attic. The reason for the pigtail on the outlets is that this way they carry their own load and the next outlet isn't dependent on the first to be working. Good luck.

Yep I spoke to a coworker about it and I think I was overcomplicating it. Pretty much each of the lights are in parallel with just the 1st black wire going through the dimmer. Joining everything up to a common box is virtually still the same wiring arangement. It would probably just take more wire to do it that way. I'm going to daisy chain everything. Thanks for all the feedback.