You have three. A rechargeable wall light that you hang without a wire, a light with a cable and plug to the nearest socket, or a new wall light point with a cable in the wall. The first takes ten minutes, the last is a job for an electrician. Which one suits depends on how often the light is on and how visible a cable may be.
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Option 1: a rechargeable wall light
No wire, no socket, no hole except for the fixing. You hang the light where you want and charge it now and then.
The Nomo is an example. It has a 2200 mAh battery that lasts up to eight hours on one charge and is full again in three hours via the USB cable that comes with it. A motion sensor switches it on when someone walks past. It gives 250 lumens of warm white 2700K light, up and down along the wall, and is held by a magnet on a small plate. That way you take it off to charge without unscrewing it.
Good for: a hallway, a utility room, next to a cupboard, a spot where you need light briefly.
Less good for: a light that is on for hours every evening, such as a reading light by the sofa. Then you will often have the light on the charger.
Option 2: a light with a plug
If there is a socket nearby, you can use a wall light with a cable and plug. The cable then runs visibly down the wall. There are two ways to make that tidier:
- A cable trunking in the color of the wall. You stick or screw it along the wall and the cable disappears into it. Visible, but calm.
- Let the cable be part of it. A fabric cable that you deliberately hang in a straight line or an arc can look good in an industrial interior.
Note: a cable with a plug must not be plastered into the wall. Whatever is in the wall has to be fixed wiring that ends in a box.
Option 3: a new wall light point
The neat solution, and the most work. A back box goes where the light will be, and a cable from an existing point: a ceiling point, a switch or a nearby box. That cable goes in a conduit in a chase in the wall, or behind the board on a plasterboard wall.
Two things to know before you start:
- Cables in a wall run straight. Straight up or straight sideways from a box, never diagonally. That way the next person drilling a hole knows where to be careful. A diagonal cable is a hole in a cable waiting for someone somewhere in the future.
- Where does the power come from? If you want to operate the light with its own switch, a switched live has to run to that switch as well. That determines how many chases you need.
Cutting a chase, laying a conduit and making a new connection to the fixed installation is a job you leave to an electrician, or at least have checked. Once the point is there, you connect the light yourself as in How do you connect a wall light?
Which one do you choose?
- Rented home or no appetite for breaking walls: rechargeable, or a light with a plug.
- Reading light that is on every evening: plug, or a new point.
- Renovating or replastering anyway: then put in a point straight away wherever you might ever want a wall light. A box you do not use goes under a blank plate. A cable you want afterwards costs a new chase.
How much light a wall light actually gives and where you hang it differs per model. They are all in the wall lights. If you are going to work on the fixed installation anyway, start with How do you check that the power is off?
Can you hang a wall light without a connection in the wall?
Yes. A rechargeable wall light needs no wire, and a light with a plug uses an ordinary socket. A fixed connection needs a wall light point.
How long does a rechargeable wall light last?
That differs per light. The Nomo lasts up to eight hours on a charge and is full again in three hours. With a motion sensor it is only on when someone is there, so a charge goes further.
Can you hide a cable in the wall?
No. A cable with a plug must not be plastered into the wall. What belongs in the wall is fixed wiring in a conduit that ends in a back box.