Adding an overhead light

My bedroom has a single light switch that controls the bottom half of an electrical socket. The amount of light produced by a lamp plugged into this socket is not enough, so I decided to add a fixture in the ceiling.

I've done everything but connect the new romex cable to the existing wires in the switch box. However, I'm not sure which connections to make, since one of the articles on the do-it-yourself site indicates one of the existing white wires might be "hot".

Here's how the switch was wired before.

1. 4-wire cable (from breaker box?): black, white, red, and ground wires.
2. 3-wire cable (to electrical socket?): black, white, and ground wires.

• Red #1 connected to upper push terminal of switch.
• Black #1 connected to black #2 and pigtailed into lower push terminal of switch.
• White #1 connected to white #2.

Where do I connect the black and white wires of the new ceiling light cable?

Thanks,

Dave McCrory

 

Connect the ground of your new cable to the other grounds.

Connect the white of your new cable to the other whites.

Connect the black of your new cable to the existing red wire, and to a pigtail. Connect the other end of that new pigtail to the screw adjacent to the hole where the red wire was formerly connected.

For a quality job, move the other existing pigtail from the hole to the screw adjacent to that hole.

 

Thanks. That did the trick.

-DM