if you want it so that they can be turned on with the chains when the switch is off, it may take a full rewire.

if you just want to be abel to turn them off when teh switch is on, simply install the pull chain switch so that it breaks teh black wire at each light you want individual control.

Hello dylan_b

Here is a quick drawing I made to help you wire up your new pull chain switch..

Hope this helps -- Let us know how you made out!!!

Have A Nice Day
Linesman

Simply replace the current light with ones with pull chains built into them. They will only be able to be turned on if the switch is on but the pull chain will not affect any of the other lights.
{{!gwi}}

i did not think about it earlier, but if these are standard edison base fixtures, you cna buy a pull chain adapter that just screws in. then screw the bulb into the adapter. last time i bought a couple they were maybe 2.00 each.

hey, lineman, it helped me!

I'm doing what the previous homeowner is doing, but with 10 pull-chain lights in a series. I have the white (neutral) wirenuted together, passing through every box/light except the last one in the chain (which has only two wires so both connect to the light fixture to complete the circuit). The black/hot of the wires from box to box is connected to the light light fixture. Is this a standard wiring procedure for this series. I can't figure out how this wouldn't work with the switch on, but it doesn't, yet. I have to check each light fixture to make sure that a wire hasn't popped off of a terminal in the installation process, but I also didn't want to do all of that work if the problem is the wiring scheme. Thank you for any clarity you can provide.

added: does it matter if the original two boxes have the whites going to the fixture, and the black passing through the box (they might have their hot and neutral scheme reversed). It seems that it would still provide power to the series whether the hot was feeding the fixture or the neutral was feeding it. (?)

Is this how you have it wired up? Every light need a neutral and a hot.

I just found this photo explaining this is incorrect because it's a series wiring scheme and it needs to be a parrallel circuit.

So, my question is...why doesn't a series work with this configuration (the diagram above should have the power source going through the switch as mine does). Is it because the pull chains (on/off) on each fixture opens the circuit and, thus, cuts power to all others? In that case if the circuit was closed on all of them simultaneously, they should all come on, correct?

Is it because the pull chains (on/off) on each fixture opens the circuit and, thus, cuts power to all others?

Yep.

In that case if the circuit was closed on all of them simultaneously, they should all come on, correct?

Yep. But depending on how many lights are in series, the bulbs might be so dim that you don't notice that they're on.

hah! I'm not ready to play that game : ) just wanting to understand why the series will not work. I would have thought that with a 120 supply there would be no more 'dimming' in a series than with a single line feeding all lights in parallel. That is the point that baffles me.

Resistance in parallel (the filaments in the light bulbs) is like opening up several water faucets at once.

Resistance in series is like using only one faucet and a very long hose, and then putting your thumb over the end of the hose to add even more resistance to the water flow (current)

As you add more resistance in series, the pressure (voltage) of the current (amps) gets less every time it goes through another resistor until there is nothing getting through.

In a series circuit, the total voltage is equal to the sum of the voltages across each resistor in the circuit. In a parallel circuit, the voltage is the same at any point on the circuit.

I appreciate the natural example to help understand the difference between parallel and series circuits. Thank you for taking the time.

you can buy a pull chain adapter that just screws in.