How to Replace an Exterior Light Fixture

In this video by ServiceMagic.com, see how to replace an outdoor light fixture. Warning! Always make sure power supply is completely cut off before replacing electrical equipment.

Hi! I’m David Lupberger with servicemagic.com. In a lot of the recently built homes, the builder may have put in inexpensive finishes. So, what we want to do is show you today how to replace one of these inexpensive patio fixtures with something more to your liking. Step one, make sure the power is turned off to the fixture itself. Go to the electrical panel, turn the light on and make sure when the circuit is been thrown the lights off. Once that’s done, come back, and start to take the fixture apart. Usually there are just two simple screws that hold the old fixture. These are wire-to-wire connectors and all I need to do is unscrew these. So now, I’m going to go ahead and connect the wires from the lamp to the wires in the wall. When you make these connections, white wire to white, black to black. And in this case, ground to ground. Now, the connections are complete. And there’s an electrical box behind this wall so I need to push these wire knots in the wires back behind the mounting bracket, back into the electrical box. Once those are there, I can now install my mounting brackets. So, I’m finishing the installation bracket. And now the light fixture will hang right on this mounting bracket. So, it’s a good idea now to make sure that the mounting bracket is leveled, so we’re using a little bullet level here. Good, we are dead on. Now, I can tighten this down and know that my fixture will also be leveled. Put the fixture onto the mounting brackets I installed. And again, this each installation is slightly different. These are just hand tightened that will hold the new fixture in place. So, I put a bulb in, went back to the circuit box, turn the power back on, we flip the switch and that’s how you replace an exterior light fixture.