Parallel vs. Series Circuit

johnson217

I am trying to wire several lights on a circuit. I have the source through on light fixture and then connected two other lights and a switch. The switch works and one of the lights burns at full brightness. The other two lights have power; however, they are dim. I know this is b/c they must be wired in series. However, I cannot figure out how to wire them in a parallel sequence so they all get full brightness. Can someone help wit hthis obvious flaw? Thanks.

fburke

Each light fixture must have a hot (black) and a neutral (white) attached to it. Sounds like you’re hooked in parallelwhich means your cascading the lights using the light itself to pass the voltage through to the next light.



What you need to do is remove the light, connect together the black and white wires so the voltage passes through to the next fixture without having to pass through the light fixture. then use a “pigtail” or a short jumper of black and white wires to connect to your fixture.



Under each wire nut you should have 3 wires…the feed, wire to next fixture, and the short jumper or pigtail to your light fixture.