Electrical question about splicing into one hot wire for a light from a set of hots for 220 circuit

Jul 19, 2006 0 Replies


My Wife's mother wants a install an outdoor lighting fixture on the


> side of the house where there is no convenient power access.
> Instead of having to run a new 110v circuit 150ft, we were wondering
> about a nearby 220v circuit that feeds 1 evap cooler.
> Can we branch off from one of the hot 110 v lines to power an outdoor
> light using 2 90watt bulbs? will this lower the voltage of the > tapped
> into hot line and cause a fault or power issue for the evap cooler?
> would tapping into each hot lines with only 1 90 watt bulb. be more
> viable solution. Or should we immediately stop thinking of such
> ridiculous things and smack ourselves for even thinking of such
> possibilities? hehe It just seems awefully expensive to accomodate
> this lighting desire. Can we extend off of a 110v receptacle circuit
> provided the wiring is suitable?

Yes it can be done, BUT. You need to make sure that that 240V circuit has a neutral as well as a ground included (at least four wires) As the others have suggested, I will also. There are a few possible glitches that may come up and you may will miss one and end up with a dangerous situation if you want to do this yourself. I suggest hiring a professional. Also make sure you get a permit, it would not be good to find out that your home fire insurance will not pay off because of un-authorized wiring.

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