shadowcat

Why can't I find the 3-4 bulb, bar style vanity lights with the built in switch on the mounting bar? I have wooden ones in one of my bathrooms with a switch on the side but it is impossible to find these anywhere. I need 2 more for a tenants bathroom that doesn't have a wall switch & the existing vanity lights are beat and need to come down. It an older home & I don't want to deal with trying to wire a wall plate. what's the deal why can't i find these things? thnx

glennjanie

Welcome to the Forum, Shadowcat:
I don't know why they seem to have stopped building them with a switch. Maybe you can do what I did. If you have a switched ceiling light in the same room, you can move 1 wire and have the light bar on the same switch. Turn the power off, remove the ceiling fixture, find the black wire that goes to the light bar, take it out of the bundle of black wires and move it to the same wire the black ceiling light wire is attached to.
There should be a power wire comming into the box, a switch leg going out (it will be a white wire hooked in with the blacks), a black wire comming back from the switch and hooked to the ceiling light, then 1 other black wire going out of the box on the side the light bar is on. That is the wire to move. All the whites stay the same, you're only dealing with the black ones.
Glenn

shadowcat

thnx for the reply but there is no wall switches in this smaller bathroom at all. whoever lived here before us installed these vanity lites and the only way to use is to turn the lite bulbs themselves! nothing like burnt hands to make my day. thus the reason i'm looking to replace these, which are old and beat up but need ones w/ a switch on the side. will keep looking!

glennjanie

OK, try going to an electrical and plumbing supply house and get a toggle switch (Check the thickness of the wood first); it only takes a drilled hole, cutting the black wire and attaching the two loose ends to the toggle switch.
Glenn

CraigFL

You can also get the turn the knob type and the quaint string pull switches too...

Rustedbird

It shouldn't be too much trouble running wire to a new wall switch. In the long run, might actually be safer and add value to the place. Depends on permitting process though and what your local gummint requires.