This is continued from Part 1.
Floodlight Mounting and Wiring
After pulling new electrical cable from the attic with fish tape, about two feet of wire is left exposed.
New NM 14/2 Wire for the Floodlight
The weatherproof flood light is a Thomas & Betts CS212WH kit. See Part 1 for details about the kit.
Thomas & Betts CS212WH Floodlight Kit
The kit consists of these components – not really much to it! Assembly is simple and the Thomas & Betts instructions are easy to follow.
Floodlight Kit Components - CS212WH
The first thing to do is apply sealant to the plastic plugs and install the plugs in the sides of the base and the center hole in the cover. The extra holes in the base are accommodate side wiring applications using conduit. The center hole in the cover for an optional motion detector that is purchased separately.
Floodlight Base and Cover
The base is centered over the hole in the soffit and mounted with two wood screws. The NM 14/2 wire is stripped and cut leaving about 8 inches of wire exposed as shown.
Floodlight Base Mounted to the Soffit
The two lamp units are threaded into the cover part as shown. The two lock nuts at the base of the lamps are not tightened – leave that for later when aiming the lamps.
Tip: Remember to place the weather gasket over the wires as shown here before nutting the connections together.
Lamps attached to the Floodlight Cover
The lamp wires are nutted to the electrical supply wires from the attic. I prefer to use a larger wire nut instead of the small orange nuts supplied with the kit. The wiring connections are:
- Two lamp black wires (hot) to the black house wire.
- Two lamp white wires (neutral) to the white house wire.
- Ground wire (bare) the green ground screw in the floodlight base.
Remember at this point, the NM 14/2 supply wire from the attic isn’t connected at the other end, so there’s no power on the circuit. Note – I normally wouldn’t let a fixture hang by the nutted wires as shown here, but the lamp unit is fairly lightweight and I needed both hands for the camera. I rechecked my connections before attaching the cover to the base.
Floodlight Wiring Connections
Carefully fold the wires into the base, align the weather gasket with the rim and attach the cover with the provided two screws.
Finished Floodlight Installation
Wiring the 120 Volt Circuit
For the supply side connection with the house mains, I chose to wire the floodlight as a slave unit with my home automation system as described here.
Alternatively, you could install a junction box in the attic and wire the light into a simple on/off switch.
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
I prefer the new compact fluorescent light bulbs whenever possible. The bulbs are more expensive than traditional incandescent lights, but use 2/3rds less power for the same amount of light output and last 6 years. The newer compact fluorescent bulbs give off a “warmer” light too like traditional bulbs. After replacing most of my light bulbs with compact fluorescents, I’ve noticed a real drop in my electric bill.
For the floodlights, I installed GE 47483 26-Watt (90-Watt equivalent) Outdoor Floodlights. These particular bulbs take a few seconds reach full brightness and work really well.
Floodlight with 26 Watt Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
Aiming the Floodlights
Leave the ladder outside until dusk to aim the lights to cover the areas of interest and tighten the lock screw and lock nuts.
Take care,
Bob Jackson
Copyright © 2012 HandymanHowTo.com Reproduction strictly prohibited.
Bob,
Thanks for the tutorial on installing floodlights. It was very helpful. One question: how do you mount a floodlight when your overhang has vinyl soffit? I guess the better question is, how do you remove the soffit? Everytime I’ve tried, I ended up bending the outer track that holds the soffit in place.
> One question: how do you mount a floodlight when your overhang has vinyl soffit?
No problem – locate and cut a hole for the electrical box and install a Westinghouse Saf-T-Brace mounting bracket and electrical box. You don’t need attic access and the device will locate the ceiling joists for you.
See these references:
1. Westinghouse Saf-T-Brace at Amazon.com. The Saf-T-Brace should be available at Home Depot and various hardware stores.
2. Saf-T-Brace in action: Install a Ceiling Fan Mount Bracket & Electric Box by One Project Closer.
3. Nice illustrations for hanging Vinyl Soffit and wood framing at HomeTime.com. I always enjoy the TV show.
Take care,
Bob