DIY Security Lights
- 1). Disconnect the electric line that connects to the lighting fixture that will be replaced by a security light. Pull the appropriate fuse in the fuse box or trip the appropriate circuit breaker to kill the power.
- 2). Place a ladder beneath the lighting fixture that is to be removed. Unscrew the incandescent bulb or bulbs from the lighting fixture. If there is a fixture cover on the lighting fixture, remove the cover first by twisting it off or unscrewing any screws with a Phillips screwdriver or a Phillips jeweler's screwdriver, depending on the type of screw. Place the bulb or bulbs and fixture cover, if there is one, aside.
- 3). Unscrew the lighting fixture from the cover plate on the wall, using a Phillips screwdriver. You can speed up this process by using an electric screwdriver instead.
- 4). Pull the lighting fixture off the wall plate. Unscrew the locking nuts that are wound around the twisted pairs of wires attached to the electrical junction box inside the wall and the lighting fixture. If screw tabs are being used instead, unscrew each screw tab.
- 5). Separate the twisted wires from each other. Place the lighting fixture aside. Remove the screws from the wall plate with the Phillips screwdriver and place it aside.
- 6). Pull the wires coming out of the wall through the hole in the back of the security light's wall plate. Screw the security light wall plate on the wall with wood screws, using the Phillips screwdriver.
- 7). Hold the security light with its back facing the wall. Wrap the already-stripped end of the black wire attached to the back of the lighting fixture to the black wire coming out of the wall. Screw on a locking nut or screw tab, depending on which was used earlier. Repeat this procedure, only with the white wire coming out of the wall and the white wire attached to the back of the security light.
- 8). Push the wires into the wall cavity. Place the back of the security light against the wall plate. Screw through the holes on the brackets on each side of the security line and into the wall plate with metal screws, using the Phillips screwdriver. Screw a floodlight or floodlights into the bulb socket or sockets on the front of the security light. The security light can now be turned on with the same switch that was used to provide electricity to the lighting fixture, once the power is restored.
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