How to Install a Floodlight on the Side of the Yard

Turn off the electricity in the garage at your home's main electrical box. Test one of the outlets on the wall with a voltage tester to ensure that the circuit is dead. If there's an outlet on the side wall where you're installing the floodlight, use that outlet to make the installation process easier.

Remove the outlet from the electrical box in the wall by removing the screw that holds it in place, then pulling the outlet out of the box and removing the wires from the terminal screws on the sides of the outlet.

Attach the mounting plate for the extension box to the electrical box in the wall with the provided screws.

Remove the knockout hole from the top of the extension box and attach a 1/2-inch metal conduit connector to it. Connect the extension box to the mounting plate with the provided screws. The extension box is used to conceal the wires where the wires from the wall meet the wires from the light.

Cut a piece of conduit that is 1 1/2 inches shorter than the distance from the ceiling to the top of the extension box with a hacksaw. Remove any rough edges by filing them down.

Place a right-angle connector on one side of the conduit and slide the other end into the connector on top of the box. Check to make sure that the conduit is plumb, or vertically straight, and screw a conduit hanger onto the wall to lock the conduit in place. Position the right-angle connector so that it faces the direction of the floodlight.

Insert a piece of conduit into the other end of the right-angle connector and attach it to the wall with a conduit hanger every 12 inches. Continue installing conduit until you reach the location of the floodlight. Connect different pieces of conduit with straight couplings. If you had to use an outlet on a different wall than the light, use a conduit elbow to go around the corner.

Drill a hole through the exterior wall over the end of the conduit, about an inch beneath the ceiling, using a 7/8-inch spade bit.

Attach the junction box to the end of the conduit then screw it into the ceiling.

Feed a piece of 14/2 electrical cable through the junction box and outside. The 14 refers to the wire gauge and the 2 refers to the fact that there are two wires plus a grounding wire.

Attach a cable connector the the outlet box for the floodlights, then feed the cable through the outlet box and tighten the screw on the cable connector to lock it down.

Apply silicone caulk to the hole you drilled through the wall around the cable and screw the outlet box to the wall with 2-inch-long galvanized decking screws. Return to the garage.

Take the cover plate off of the right-angle conduit connector and run electrician's fish tape through the connector and down into the extension box. Tape a 14/2 cable to the end of the wire, then pull the wire up through the conduit with the fish tape. Detach the cable, then run the fish tape from the junction box through the conduit to the conduit connector, where the cable is. Re-attach the cable to the fish tape and pull it through to the junction box. Replace the cover plate on the conduit connector.

Assemble the floodlight, following the manufacturer's instructions, and return outside.

Cut the cable until it's about 6 inches long, then trim about 2 inches of sheathing from the cable and 1/2 inch of insulation from the individual wires with wire strippers.

Connect the wires to the floodlight, following the manufacturer's instructions, and attach the floodlight to the outlet box on the wall. Screw the bulbs into the sockets on the floodlight fixture.

Go back into the garage and attach the wires leading from the floodlight to the wires leading from the extension box with plastic connector caps. Match the wires by color when connecting them. Tuck the wiring into the junction box and place the cover on it.

Restore the power to the garage.