Recessed Light Wiring Problem

I removed a center chandelier from my dining room and installed 6 recessed cans in the room. I ran 14/2 romex from the last light to the first and connected all white to white, black to black and ground to ground. I pulled the existing wire that connected the chandelier to the switch and simply connected that line to the first can, again white to white, black to black and ground to ground. When I turned on the power, all six lights were working but they were VERY dim and within about 4 seconds, the breaker trips. By my calculations, I'm drawing 3.5 amps and I'm connected to a 20 amp breaker. Thoughts?

 

Sounds like you may have grabbed a switch loop. You need to attach the new wires to the old wires that attached to the chandelier.

A switch loop is where the white wire takes unswitched power down to the switch. The black brings the switched hot back to the fixture.

 

First you either need to replace the breaker with a 15 amp one or rewire your cans with #12/2. 14/2 is too small to be on a 20 amp circuit!

 

If I'm reading your post correctly, you have the last light connected to the first light, right?

this isn't correct. that last light doesn't need to go back to the first. this is creating a loop and causing the breaker to trip.

the last poster is right, 14/2 is too small for 20 amps.. change that breaker to a 15 amp or you risk a fire!!!