Little wiring help for the shop

[Curtis]

Looking for help with one little wiring issue.  I am trying to add one receptacle to an existing circuit.  Nothing more.  I have attached a diagram of the circuit.  The circuit has a switched light and I want to add one outlet that also goes on and off with that same switch.    Where do I splice into the existing circuit?   I originally just took the hot(black) wire spliced it with the black going into the light and took the white/neutral from the outlet and spliced it with the white going into the light.....   That in turn made the fire alarm also connected to the circuit go off.  (at 11:30pm with the kids asleep,,,wife not happy)  .   I usually leave electrical work to the electricians, but just want to put in one measly outlet  

 

 

[Chestnut]

There are a couple ways to do it. For me it'd depend on where i wanted the outlet. I think the easiest way to do it would be to add on to the wires connected to the light. So you'd have 4 white wires and 3 black wires tied together. The issue there is your box is becoming awfully crowded and i don't know the standards for box sizing.

[Tom Cancelleri]

[Tom Cancelleri]

15 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

 The issue there is your box is becoming awfully crowded and i don't know the standards for box sizing.

This is a good point. Here's a spacing chart.

I'm guessing it's a 15 amp circuit using 14 gauge wire.

 

 

[Chestnut]

I'm counting 10 conductors existing with 12 in the proposed configuration. 1 for each conductor 1 for all grounds 1 for all wire straps (the things holding the wires in the box). So you'd need this to be in a 4x4x2.125 box in order to meet code / pass inspection.

[Curtis]

7 hours ago, Chestnut said:

There are a couple ways to do it. For me it'd depend on where i wanted the outlet. I think the easiest way to do it would be to add on to the wires connected to the light. So you'd have 4 white wires and 3 black wires tied together. The issue there is your box is becoming awfully crowded and i don't know the standards for box sizing.

Thanks so much guys.  This is what I thought I had done before (but obviously something was off),  so rewired it tonight based on your recs, upgraded to a 4x4x2.5 box and all works perfect.