Wiring a mirror in to existing light?


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Old 09-19-18, 05:34 PM
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Question Wiring a mirror in to existing light?

Hello all! First time posting, I'm looking for an electrician's opinion; I have light up / bluetooth mirror I bought from Home Depot, and I want to know if it's safe or a good idea to tap it in to the electrical line running to the lights above the sink. See pictures:

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My condo was built in the 90's. Can I just turn the breaker off and then clip open that electrical wire and tap the mirror in with some wire nuts? Is that a good idea?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!
 
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Old 09-19-18, 09:00 PM
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I've decided that I want to wire it separately in to the outlet so that it's on all the time. Not sure how I'm going to accomplish that yet.

The next question, now, is do I need to worry about wire gauge and code with regard to the amperage the wiring is rated for? If I wire the mirror's tiny wires in to a 20 amp circuit, for example, is that a good idea / will it fail?
 
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Old 09-19-18, 09:18 PM
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You would need twelve inches of slack on the cable because you would need to install a junction box and six inches of wires for the in and out wires. You don't have that obviously. You could run a new cable from the receptacle.box.
 
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Old 09-19-18, 09:38 PM
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Thanks ray2047 - if I buy the same gauge electrical wiring and wire it to the same place as the nearby outlet, will the wire gauge differences of the mirror's wiring vs. the house wiring be a problem with regard to amperage / safety?
 
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Old 09-20-18, 12:13 AM
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It is common for fixture wiring to be smaller than the house wires because their size is determined by different criteria such as insulation temperature value,
 
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Old 09-20-18, 05:19 AM
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You cannot cut into the middle of an existing cable or slice the cable in half to put a splice or tap in between without complexity. If the cut ends don't reach when you put things back together then you will need two junction boxes where the respective cable ends do reach and with exposed covers together with extra cable to bridge the gap as well as extra cable that matched the cut cable to get within reach of the wiring that came with the mirror.

Any standard light fixture, fan, illuminated mirror, etc. (120 volt in the U.S.) may be wired into a 20 amp branch circuit. Now you may not splice on longer "fixture wire" to get to where the nearest outlet box is rather you have to run "house wire" (minimum 12 gauge for 20 amp branch circuit) to within reach of the wires that came witht he fixture.

In many cities electrical work more complex than simply changing a switch or light fixture in multifamily, non-owner occupied, or commercial buildings has to be done by a licensed professional.
 
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Old 09-21-18, 10:27 AM
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Thanks all.

I'm going to replace the outlet on the right side with a GFCI (as is code now, as I understand it) and run some romex from the Load portion of that outlet through the wall up to the opening I have that will be behind the mirror. Then I'll put in an electrical box with a white 1-hole wallplate and run the mirror's wiring in to it and splice it on to the end.
 
 

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