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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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1936902 No.1936902 [Reply] [Original]

Hi,

Retard here. I have this light fixture from the 70s that broke but I also have two old pendant hanging lights from the 1920s that work in the garage. However they're wired with 14 or 16 gauge and the two wires that drop from the ceiling are 12g. The circut is on a 15amp breaker.

Can I go from the 12g and wire it into the thinner 14g or 16g on the fixtures?

>> No.1936909

>>1936902
yes
we have an eternal thread called sqtddtot which you can find in the catalog in the future

>> No.1936916

>>1936902
Sparky here. Yea you can. Wire sizing of fixtures is often smaller than the branch wiring provided you dont exceed the load indicated on the fixture...which is pretty hard to do these days with LEDs. Wrap the smaller wire of the fixture around your supply wires before putting finalizing your connection.

>> No.1936924

>>1936902
How many amps is the fixture pulling? Certainly not enough to matter if its just a few light bulbs.

>> No.1936932

>>1936916

They're some Bryant fixtures from the 1920s. They look to be in pretty good shape except the old wiring is crumbling. So I plan on replacing that. I should note the house itself is about 100 years old with 75% of the original knob and tube.

>> No.1937691

>>1936916
This,
And, generally, when you have mixed wire sizes, use the breaker appropriate for the smallest wire.
In this case, let’s trust that you don’t have 16, but it’s 14 gauge and 12 that are between the breaker and endpoint... in this case you use a 15 amp breaker, so you can’t overload the 14 gauge wire. The 12 can handle 15 amps (and more) so you are good.

>> No.1937692

>>1936932
>the house itself is about 100 years old with 75% of the original knob and tube.
If you value your life and/or property, you’ll re-do it all to current specs for safety.
!!!

>> No.1937774

>>1937692
It's actually the law in most places.

In any case, our house we _pre_-knob and tube. Just bare copper bars nailed into wooden raceways. The electrician was wide-eyed when he found that.

Turned out it was live, carrying a 100 amp subfeed to the back of the house.