light-fixturelighting
I recently discovered a couple of what look like wall light fixtures in my apartment so I went out and bought a wall light hoping the connection would be relatively simple.
The fixture looks like this:
The wall looks like this:
Can I connect the two together easily or should I call on an electrician?
A pretty common approach is to build a small platform for the lamp to sit on, something like this
This has the advantage of giving you more depth to mount a receptacle box. You can use 3/4 inch material (nominally 1x ) or larger, such as 5/4 stock. You can then cut a hole, using a hole saw through the new block and the siding underneath giving you enough depth for a much deeper box, like this one
It also has the advantage of making it easier to get the base of the lamp vertical.
After the box is set, I would caulk the entry point of the wire and around the box itself. After the lamp is mounted, unless the fixture has its own gasket, caulk around the top, sides and all but a small section of the bottom (a weep hole just incase any moisture gets in.)
There is no way to tell what to connect to. It depends on how they wired it. I think it is safe to assume you should connect to the single black since it is in that box by itself like that. And yes, you would connect to the white and green with the other two wires. The instructions are not sparse, they show what you need to connect to. They do not know or care how your house is wired, nor should they. I will say, that box for the porch light is NOT appropriate. That is a collar box meant to mount onto an existing flush box. The wood of the logs is exposed to the back side of the box.
I also see a hole in the back of that collar box. Is this new light meant to be inside or out? If outside you'll need to replace that existing Wiremold collar box with a regular box, then run a cable from the back of the box into the back of a flush box outside.
Best Answer
Turn off the power at the wall switch. If there are others in house while you are doing this, tape the switch in the off position or attach a note to it, and inform all others in the house that they are not to flip this switch while you are working on it. Safer yet is to turn off the breaker to this circuit in the consumer unit.
The black coloured connection block looks like it is in the light fixture and, if so, I suggest you use it. Remove the other connector from the brown and blue coloured wires and insert them into the appropriate holes in the black block, and secure them with the screws (firm tight but not so tight you break anything). Insert the earthing wires in the middle hole and secure. Test by turning on the wall switch.