I installed recessed lighting in my living room. There is no light switch so I had to add one and run the wire up to the attic.
How do I go about tapping into an existing line in the attic and connecting the light switch and recessed lighting for this to work?
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Was there an existing ceiling light in the living room? If so, the best is to connect in to that circuit.
Otherwise, you just need to find an available circuit that has spare capacity, and tap into that. Generally, lighting circuits have plenty of spare capacity, so connecting to the light circuit for a nearby room will probably work. Make sure your 'tapping in' is done inside an appropriate & accessible electrical box -- just patching into the cable in the attic and wrapping it with electrical tape is NOT safe!
But if you're already in the attic, how hard would it be to run that circuit all the way back to the breaker box? That's much better, because it gives you the option of tying it in to any of the circuits there, or even adding a new breaker for this circuit. Please consider that.
Otherwise, you just need to find an available circuit that has spare capacity, and tap into that. Generally, lighting circuits have plenty of spare capacity, so connecting to the light circuit for a nearby room will probably work. Make sure your 'tapping in' is done inside an appropriate & accessible electrical box -- just patching into the cable in the attic and wrapping it with electrical tape is NOT safe!
But if you're already in the attic, how hard would it be to run that circuit all the way back to the breaker box? That's much better, because it gives you the option of tying it in to any of the circuits there, or even adding a new breaker for this circuit. Please consider that.
