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I’m trying to add a pull chain ceiling fixture to an existing circuit and I’m stuck with figuring out the wiring.

In a spare bedroom I have a ceiling fixture that is controlled by a switch. I ran wiring to a closet where the pull chain fixture is going. Problem is that the switch controls the pull string fixture.

How can I fix this so that the pull string fixture is controlled on its own? wiring at the switch

wiring at the light fixture

FreeMan
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Matt
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    Please [edit] to add pictures of the devices, and their wiring as connected now. – Ecnerwal Mar 15 '22 at 20:30
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    Knowing how it's currently wired will help you know which of Ecnerwal's suggestions is the proper one for you. Those pictures he asked for will help us tell you instead of leaving it up to you to figure out. – FreeMan Mar 16 '22 at 14:18
  • Looks like you uploaded the 2nd image twice, so I removed the extra one. If you'd intended to post a 3rd pic, please edit and try again. – FreeMan Mar 16 '22 at 17:39

1 Answers1

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You wired your new light to a switched fixture. Which is fine if you want another switched fixture, but that's not what you want.

So you need to locate a source of unswitched power and wire the new light from there. The light switch is one possible source (if new enough to have neutral at the switch.) It's also possible that the switch is fed from other wires in the light you already ran to, (via a switch loop, old or new style) and one of those is unswitched power.

Ecnerwal
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  • I added some pictures of what I’m working with. Problem is that this is on the second floor of my house. In my attic I noted that most of the receptacles are switched. I have a spacepak system in the attic too that has its own box. Not sure if I can just tap into that? – Matt Mar 16 '22 at 17:02
  • My, that's some *bleep* old wiring. The potential upside, not that that I can see what I'm looking for in the light box, is that the switch appears to be an old style switch loop. So the Switched hot to the light (where our new wire is connected) should be coming from a cable where the other wire (should be "white" a bit hard to tell with your old cloth at this point, and frequently done wrong anyway) is joined to the incoming power cable hot/black (which cable should have its white connected to your "neutral" bundle.) That should be the unswitched hot. – Ecnerwal Mar 16 '22 at 17:30
  • Work carefully! Especially where it would have been heated by the ceiling fixture, that old insulation can be quite fragile. I've learned by experience on my own old wiring. – Matthew Bourque Mar 16 '22 at 19:32