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westminster_gw

Basic question about types of wiring for ceiling light fixture

westminster
14 years ago

Hi. I'm working on replacing and rewiring a light fixture in my home, but I have a few very basic questions about the type of wire to use:

If I am pigtailing 2 #14 wires to 3 #14 wires, do I just use 14 gauge wire for the pigtails? (This is in an old ceiling box that has 5 B/X cables passing through it.) I know that generally you're supposed to use the same gauge wire for the pigtails as what you're connecting, but I wasn't sure if that was still the case where there will be multiple wires or whether I needed to use a thicker wire. And is the standard solid wire that you can get at Home Depot sufficient?

Also, I am rewiring an old pendant light fixture, where the wire is threaded along the outside of the fixture from the socket to the canopy. What kind of wire should I use for this? Is the standard brown lamp wire okay? The original wiring actually had two separate conductors on each side of the fixture.

Sorry for the very basic question, and thanks in advance for your help!

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