I just wired two separate lights in a new room in my house. I tried to set up an end of the line switch so current would go through black wires to a switch and then return on white wires. In particular, here is what I did (using 14-2 w/ground):
Panel ------> light1 ------> light2 -------> switch
In light1 there are two 14-2 wires in. Here is how they are are attached:
Black-In pigtailed to Black-Out White-In to one tiny wire on light1 White-Out to the other tiny wire on light1 All grounds pigtailed, to box, etc.
In light2 there are two 14-2 wires in. Here is how they are attached:
Black-In pigtailed to Black-Out White-In to one tiny wire on light2 White-Out to the other tiny wire on light2 All grounds pigtailed, to box, etc.
At the switch there is one wire in. Here is how it is attached:
Black-In to bottom screw on switch White-In to top screw on switch Ground to switch and box, etc.
When the switch is off (open), everything works fine. If I put a detector between the two screws on the switch, it glows. If I check the two whites in light1, there is no current between them. Similarly, there is no current between the two whites in light2.
When the switch is on (closed), there is current between the two whites in light2. That is good. But, there is only current between the two whites on light1 if light2 has a bulb in it (or if I pigtail the two whites in light1 together). In some sense this is correct insofar as, when light2's white lines are pigtailed, light1 gets current in from a white line.
When both light1 and light2 have bulbs, the bulbs glow when they should (when the switch is on) but only very dimly. I am using 100 watt bulbs, and the bulbs are putting out only a very dull glow.
Never having wired an end of the line switch before, I think my problem may be that I am using the lights to connect whites wires. This would explain why light1 does not work at all unless light2 has a bulb in it. That is, light2 does not return current to light1 unless it has a bulb. But, I cannot explain why the bulb's are not glowing very much. There must be too much resistance somewhere. Is the fact that light1 and light2 have tiny wires, and I am using them to connect whites, a problem?
Can someone explain how to fix this? I suspect my wiring is probably close but it certainly is not correct (the circuit is not being used now...)
Thanks,
michael