Need Guidance on Installing Ceiling Light

I am a novice at home repair and am taking my first foray into basic electrical work by trying to install a light fixture in the basement. I have three empty light junction boxes in the basement, and yesterday I successfully installed a light fixture without electrocuting myself only to realize that the fixture was not connected to the light switch. Since I don't want to have to turn off electricity to half the house to turn the light off, I am going to move that light to another junction box that I believe is connected to the light switch.

This junction box has two hot and two neutral wires that are joined together (see photo). I assume that one set of wires leads to the electrical panel and the other leads to the light switch, but I cannot tell which is which (My guess would be that the dingy looking white wire is the light switch neutral wire, but I am not certain). There is no grounding wire at the box, but I used a voltage tester and confirmed that the box is grounded (assuming the YouTube videos I followed are correct).

I turned to my three books on home repair for guidance, and there was some conflicting information about how the light should be wired:

1.  Connect the light's black wire to the white neutral-hot wire coming from the light switch and the light's white wire to the white neutral wire coming from the electrical panel, leaving the remaining black/hot wires from the panel and switch joined together.
2.   Connect the light's black wire to the black hot wire coming from the light switch and the light's white wire to the white neutral wire coming from the electrical panel, leaving the remaining black/hot wire from the panel and the white/neutral-hot wire from the switch joined together.

Which of these is the better option? Is there any easy way to distinguish which wire is which? Any other tips or words of advice I should know before proceeding?

Why the. resistance to switching the power off?
I have been injured working with live wires.

John C Daley wrote:Why the resistance to switching the power off?
I have been injured working with live wires.

I agree, if you need to turn the whole house off, turn it off. Getting a good solid shock is the not fun way to learn that. It NEVER hurts to be extra careful around power.

  I belive the ask here is how to add a light switch, so they don't have to use the breaker to turn the light off.

From the picture I do not think either of those wire runs go to a switch.  I belive that box is just a junction extending power to a  new location.  

My suggestion is a light fixture with a built in switch, pull chain.  I'm cheap, I don't want to pay $2 a foot to put the switch by the door.  Tom

^ I think Thomas's advice is bang on.

Angel, I believe it's common practice to reverse the white/black wires going down to a simple wall switch. That is, the black hot "supply" in the box would be connected to the white wire, making it the hot wire interrupted by the gold side of the switch. That's just a visual convenience, to easily identify the switch wire in busy junction box.

But that doesn't apply to you: keep it simple. The important part is that the physical black/hot supply wire from the junction box must be interrupted by the gold side of the wall switch.

EDIT: I also hate all those weirdo connectors inside that box. Get some proper marrettes (twist wire connectors) and upgrade as you go. Safer and more reliable.

John C Daley wrote:Why the. resistance to switching the power off?
I have been injured working with live wires.

Sorry. I was not clear. What I meant was that because the junction box is not connected to the light switch and because the light fixture I have does not have a chain pull, once the light is installed the only way to turn the light off is to shut off the circuit at the electrical box, thereby also cutting power to other parts of the house.

There is no way I would even attempt this repair without shutting the power supply off first! This is daunting enough with the power off.

Thomas Michael wrote:   I belive the ask here is how to add a light switch, so they don't have to use the breaker to turn the light off.

From the picture I do not think either of those wire runs go to a switch.  I belive that box is just a junction extending power to a  new location.  

My suggestion is a light fixture with a built in switch, pull chain.  I'm cheap, I don't want to pay $2 a foot to put the switch by the door.  Tom

Thanks for the input! I assumed because there are four wires in the box that two of those wires were connecting to the light switch, but your explanation does make sense. Now I am wondering what those wires are extending to.

That is a bit of a bummer, but I can easily get a pull chain light. The previous owner removed half the lights in the basement when he moved, and I had just assumed those lights were connected to the light switch. I guess not.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Angel, I believe it's common practice to reverse the white/black wires going down to a simple wall switch. That is, the black hot "supply" in the box would be connected to the white wire, making it the hot wire interrupted by the gold side of the switch. That's just a visual convenience, to easily identify the switch wire in busy junction box.

But that doesn't apply to you: keep it simple. The important part is that the physical black/hot supply wire from the junction box must be interrupted by the gold side of the wall switch.

EDIT: I also hate all those weirdo connectors inside that box. Get some proper marrettes (twist wire connectors) and upgrade as you go. Safer and more reliable.

Thank you. Those weirdo connectors were part of what was making me nervous and why I wanted some feedback. I am glad to get confirmation that I can just replace them with marrettes.