5 Tips for Wiring a Crystal Chandelier

You can spice up a dining room with a crystal chandelier that will catch and throw light around your room.They can be installed quickly and easily, bringing a room to life.

Power off

Be sure that when you go to install your crystal chandelier that you shut off all main power to the room you are working in. Know that in some houses, several rooms can be on the same circuit which will shut down several areas of your home at once. In other cases, there may not be specific labeling on your circuit box showing what area goes to where, in this case you can trial and error check each room as you shut off power, or just turn off the large main switch on the side of your power box.

The Junction Box

You want to ensure that the junction box, or housing that is installed in the ceiling, will hold your crystal chandelier up without problems. If the original junction box is not designed to support the weight, it can very well rip the fixture out of the ceiling, which will break your electrical wiring in the process. In most cases, your installation kit will include a new junction box that will have to be installed, and the old one taken out to prevent issues down the road.

Electrical Wires

When you go to take out your old fixture to put in your new crystal chandelier, look at the wires and how they are connected. This should give you a good idea as to your hot and cold lines which are generally marked red and black, or black and white. Houses that have dimmer switches hooked into the light fixtures generally have more than just two wires, they generally have three or four. In a more advanced situation such as this, you may want to pay close attention to how your old light is connected, and that your new fixture is dim switch capable.

Grounding Wires

Be sure that you get a proper connection on the ground wires of the crystal chandelier when you hook it up. Strip about an inch of plastic off both the light fixture wires and the wires from the house so you can be sure they get a solid connection when you spin the two ends together. Be sure that none of the house wires are charred, frayed or exposed, look for cracks in the insulation on them, if any is found, you may want to replace those wires before installing something new onto them, as this can cause grounding issues which is a potential fire hazard.

Insulating Wires

On the twisted ends where your home wires and the crystal chandelier wires come together, you will want to screw on an electric wire cap . These come in various sizes and colors, generally to dictate the gauge of the wires being joined and the type of wire they are. There are red caps for the hot wires, and also color coded blacks caps for the ground, this can just make things easier to identify wires in the future if any electrical maintenance is needed.