Someone pointed out to me that one of the track lights in my kitchen has broken off from the fixture; it’s just hanging by the wires. What is the best way to approach this? I’ve tried looking it up on Google, but most of the results are just about the light not turning on.
If the track is intact and still providing power to the other lights on it, can’t you just replace the broken light? Of course it may not be possible to buy a new light to match the unbroken lights so you could just remove the one light, or even replace all of them while leaving the track in place.
Ah, you can? I don’t know how track lighting works, so I thought the wiring meant I’d have to do some electrical work to remove the light.
Edit: I see now that the exposed wiring is apparently for the lighting head, and not anything attached to the ceiling, so that would explain it!
The track in track lighting provides power to the light heads. I think there’s usually a transformer somewhere that converts AC power to, I think, 12V DC.
The light heads are generally removable. Some with a simple twist, others by pulling down a lock and then twisting.
I’d take some close up photos of the track and part that’s still attached. Go to a big box store and ask them. Or a local hardware store if they’re still around.
Yes, I’ve replaced and added lights to my track light system many times. Your system may be different, but on mine there’s a little spring loaded box-like component near the track that you pull down to unlock, then twist 90 degrees and the fixture pops off. I couldn’t actually find an exact match for the 1970s era fixtures that were in the house when I bought it, but despite my misgivings, the mismatched fixtures are not very noticeable.