April 26th, 2009
Last week, I put up our track light. We’ve had the light for a long time, and we did have it up at our old place in Illinois. But, for whatever reason, I never got ’round to installing it here. So, for the last three + years, this has been the scene over the kitchen sink:
A few weeks back, I went out to the shed to try and find the part that connects the track light to power, but I was unsuccessful. It wasn’t until last week that I got out to the hardware store and picked up a new one.
The directions that came with the connecting piece weren’t very helpful, but I eventually managed to figure them out. (Also, there was an odd circular metal piece on the back of the thing that I had to remove using a screwdriver and a wrench. If that part wasn’t necessary for the design of the thing, you’d think they would’ve made it a bit easier to remove.) Probably the hardest part of the installation was getting the ceiling wires properly connected to the power piece. It was difficult to identify which wire was which, but I eventually sorted that out. Unfortunately, one of the wires was much longer than the other two, so I had to do some creative maneuvering to get them all into place.
One wire connected.
All wires connected. Sorry for the crummy photo.
After I got all the wires into the right places, I connected the power piece to the track. It took a couple tries to get it properly seated. Once I had it in there, I left the track hanging with the free end resting on the stove and connected one of the light fixtures. I didn’t want to hang up the light just yet, as I had no idea if the thing still worked.
I flipped the light switch a few times, but nothing happened. Utilizing some basic troublshooting rules, I decided to swap out the light bulb for a brand new one. I flipped the switch again, and noticed a quick flash of light. I thought maybe the bulb had blown out, so I flipped the switch again, and noticed another flash. I then decided to move the switch very slowly, eventually finding a sweet spot where the light would stay on:
The light works! The next step was to finish attaching it to the ceiling. I used a couple of the same kind of screws I used to hang it at our old place.
The installation is solid, but it’s not completely flush. I may consider looking for some braces in the future just to reinforce it. The track light has two more fixtures, but I decided to only add one. It took a few tries to get the second fixture working, but I eventually got it there.
I’m planning on replacing the faulty switch, and we won’t be using the light much until then. But, I’m glad I finally got this project completed. I can now cross it off of my to-do list.
(A few more photos can be found here.)
April 27th, 2009 at 10:25 am
That looks really nice! I think you did a great job with it! And you’re making a lot of progress on your 2009 to-do list.
April 27th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Thanks, Wesley.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
if i attempted something like that my house would burn down. which honestly in my case might not be a bad thing.
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