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I disconnected my basement light wire by accident. In my spare room upstairs I had no light. I had this wall switch which controlled the receptacle instead. I decided to install a ceiling light using the same switch. I removed the receptacle and cut the wire not realizing that the wire was attached to the basement wire as well. Source wire was coming down from the ceiling which was attached to the basement wire as well as the receptacle. I pulled the source wire back up from the ceiling and installed the light using the switch loop configuration down below. Spare room light works great.

Now I have the basement wire sticking out of the receptacle hole. Below are the pictures. My question is how do I attach the basement light wire back to the same source? Should I install a junction box in the ceiling and throw a wire from the ceiling to extend the current basement wire?

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Not sure you need a junction box at the light. What’s weird is it sounds like the switch controlled a receptacle and light in two different rooms on different floors? Are you wanting that switch to still control the basement light or are you wanting a different switch? Have you tried connecting the outlet back to see if it gets power?

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  • The switch did not control the light downstairs. It only control the receptacle in the spare room. I'm not sure how it was wired. To make matter worse, when I was pulling the source and switch wire from the ceiling, both were getting stuck so I cut out another hole about 2 feet above the receptacle and cut both wires from there. It looked like both wires were clamped to the stud. Since I cut the wires, I can't easily install the receptacle and test it. – Sam Nov 1 '17 at 12:57
  • LOL next time don't cut wires. All splices must be made inside junction boxes. A junction box is just a receptacle box or lamp box with a blank cover plate on it. Or you can put a receptacle or lamp there also, if you prefer. You did put a junction box at the lamp, yes? – Harper - Reinstate Monica Nov 1 '17 at 15:01
  • The reason I’m confused is presumably, removing the wire to the outlet is the reason you lost power to the basement light. This would only make sense to me if the outlet and the light were both controlled by the switch with the light behind the outlet, and if that’s the case, you should still have hot wire coming out of the electrical box. – Uggymunkey Nov 1 '17 at 15:36
  • And sorry, I meant I didn’t think he needed an additional junction box at the ceiling since he’s have to tie into wherever he wired the light. I assumed he meant additional. – Uggymunkey Nov 1 '17 at 15:40
  • @harper Yes I did add a mounting box for the light and connect the wires there. – Sam Nov 1 '17 at 16:09
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Since you cut the feed to the outlet you will need to fish a new wire from a source of power to that location. A box at the light would work If accessible since that is the original source or back to the panel and a new circuit I would take the easiest method but a new circuit has advantages of more available power in the basement for additional outlets.

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  • Should I use the current receptacle box as a junction box to extend the basement wire and then install a junction box by the light in the ceiling and connect the extended basement wire in the junction box up with the source? What's messed up is that the basement is finished and all the outlets there are working. Only these lights are connected to this source. Rest of the basement is working. Since I can't see all the wires, I figured the easier way would be to just connect to the same source. The new light I installed is led with no light blubs. – Sam Nov 1 '17 at 13:37
  • Using the existing box should be fine because that is where it was connected so the box fill would be the same. Adding a box in the basement will work but it needs to be accessible not buried in the wall when done – Ed Beal Nov 1 '17 at 14:42

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