Experience for installing track lights in the Eicher home

I would encourage you to consider dual cable track lighting since its not as "clunky" as traditional track lighting and its very easy to install. Additionally, there are an unlimited variety of halogen lights and individual fixtures that you can take on/off the cables easily which is nice because it allows you to quickly change the look/theme without having to take down the entire light fixture.

We put cable lighting in our hallway and love it. To get a better feel for what cable track lighting looks like, check out the following sites:

An Eichler with cable tracking lighting: http://www.eichlersocal.com/GalleryPages/LindaVista1151.htm

Kable Lite Examples: http://www.louielighting.com/items.asp?Cc=TCH%5F4&iTpStatus=0&Tp=&Bc=

Inexpensive Cable Light Kit: http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=P...

Expensive Designer Cable Lighting Systems: http://www.homeportfolio.com/catalog/Listing.jhtml;$sessionid$HENNFYIAAAOMLQFIAM1CFFQ?superCatId=14&catId=453&index=1&itemsPerPage=50

We had some great Low Profile Halogen Tracks put in when we had our roof done. It is awesome and I highly recommend going with the Tracks. There are some very small ones that are bright yet not big ugly '70's Cans that don't work. Make sure to use Dimmers on these..
Gerald

Hi Jennyzh- Welcome to midtown Palo Alto!

I put some WAC lighting in (see ylighting.com) and I was able to use conventional dimmers (rather than speciality expensive dimmers made for halogens). They do buzz a bit especially when dimmed but it's not too bad. I installed them on the side of our beams so no one really notices them and the live feed comes out of the top of the wall (where the track meets the wall) rather than the ceiling. Just a nice option if you can't run the wiring from your ceiling.

Lynn
(I live on Louis in Palo Alto if you want to see them).

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I am wondering whether you did the installation yourself or called some professionals to get the job done, and how difficult is the work if we want to do that by ourself?

1) Turn off breaker
2) Remove existing lighting fixture from the wall (usually by unscrewing) and separate the white and black wire coming out of the ceiling from the white and black wiring on your old light fixture (they are probably covered with wire nuts, often yellow in color, that you simply screw off). You should now have your old light fixture in one hand and two wires (one white, one black) coming out of the ceiling).
3) Grab your new light fixture and read the installation instructions. Note if the instructions indicate if there is any hardware that should be mounted to the ceiling/wall first before you actually connect the new lights. Most fixtures have some type of a base plate/wall mounting hardware that is screwed into the wall first...again read the instructions that came with your light fixture. If it calls for a base plate to be mounted first, simply secure it to the ceiling or wall with the screws that came with the light fixture.
4) Connect the white wire from the ceiling to the white wire on the fixture and connect the black wire from the ceiling to the black wire on the fixture. You do this by simply twisting the two like-colored wires together and then use a wire nut to screw together the two like-colored wires (the wire nuts should be included with the fixture you just bought).
5) Now that all of the electrical connections are made and are capped off with wire nuts, you then need to simply mount the light fixture onto the base plate which you installed in step #3. Follow the instructions that came with the light to complete this step.
6) Screw in the lightbulbs for the fixture
7) Turn on breaker and then turn on the lights. Whola! You should be in business!

If you want step by step pictures simply do a google search for "lighting installation" and you should be able to find what you are looking for. If none of the above makes sense OR if you still don't feel comfortable trying it yourself, you might want to have an electrician or friends/family come out and do it for you. Usually once you see someone do it once it because infinitely easier to do yourself. Same goes for replacement of the antiquated two-prong outlets throughout the house.

Hope this helps!

If you are planning on adding wiring (rather than just replacing a fixture) to an existing circuit, I'm not sure that is allowed by Palo Alto Building code. If you could, you would want to see what is already on that circuit and see if there is room left to add another electrical fixture (overloaded circuits is why your lights dim when you turn on your iron for example). They don't care about existing old wiring that is not to code but I don't think they like you adding to it.

Lynn