TimR wrote:
Once you open up the boxes and look it will be obvious how to do what
you want to do. Look, draw, think, wire. Preferably in that order.

As others have pointed out that doesn't make it the best solution or
to code.

Aren't you going to end up with lighting and branch circuits on the
same breaker? Pretty sure that's against code, you ought to look it
up. For that matter, your extension cord across the ceiling is
probably wrong. You really ought to run a new circuit from the panel
to your computer area, and this is not that hard or expensive to do.

Tim:

What do you mean, branch and lighting? Lighting circuits /are/ branch
circuits. You can't have lighting on your /small appliance branches/,
but
this sounds like a general lighting branch, and that can have
receptacles
as well as light fixtures.

I definitely agree that the first thing to do is find out what's
there...look,
draw, think, wire. I'd add a few more thinks, too, at the beginning,
especially.

Proch wrote:
There are two flat cables leading into the socket (which is mounted on the
ceiling) and one that comes out. This one goes to a light. That light does
NOT go on or off with the switch. It's my intention to open the box and
rewire it to not be switched. Before I cut the power, can anyone give me an
idea of what I'll see when I open it, and what the best way will be to make
it not turn off when the switch is thrown.

P:

There are numerous things that could be in that box, and so you need
to find
out just what is going on before starting to wire.

-You could have one 2-wire cable feeding the box, one 2-wire cable
leaving,
unswitched, and one 2-wire cable hooked up as a switch loop - out to
the
switch and back. In this case you'd most likely have just the one
cable
in the switch box.

-You could have one three-wire cable feeding the box, wired to a
single
branch circuit, with one hot switched and one not, and two 2-wire
cables
leaving the box, at least one unswitched. In this case, you'd have
one
2-wire feed to the switch and one 3-wire from the switch to the
ceiling
box. In this case, the 3-wire cable woudl have 0v from one hot to the
other,
120v from either to the neutral, when the switch was on.

Be cautious, however, because with the exact same cables and
connections...

-You might have one 2-wire cable feeding the box, with one unswitched
2-wire cable leaving the box, and a 3-wire cable running to the
switch,
acting both as a feed for unswitched outlets downstream, and as a
switch
loop (the switch would be connected as above, from one hot of the
three-
wire cable to the other).

-You might have a 3-wire Edison circuit feeding the box; two branches
with a common neutral, derived from opposite buses at the panel. In
this case, you'd have 120v from each hot to neutral, and 240v across
both hots. Two cables leave the box to go to other loads.

-You might have a kludged version of any of these 3-wire examples, in
which two 2-wire cables were used improperly instead of one 3-wire,
and the extra wire was ignored or worse.

This is why it is necessary to know just what is going on in that box,
what is feeding it, and where the power is going, before starting to
alter things. If you don't do that, you can set yourself up for
problems.
For example, somebody I know once hooked up "all black to black,
all white to white" in a box. Unfortunately, there was an informal
switch loop involved, and he ended up with a bolted short, and all
of a sudden the breaker wouldn't stay on.

He didn't hurt himself or burn anything, fortunately, but he did learn
a valuable lesson. There's just no such thing as excessive
understanding when it comes to working on an old electrical circuit.
You just never know what to expect.

I suggest starting out with a good book. PRACTICAL ELECTRICAL
WIRING is a favorite.


G P