Florescent Ballast Replacement

Hello. I'm a new home owner and DIY-er. I have 3 fluorescent lights  in my basement. I just replaced the fixtures' older ballasts with new  T8 ballasts in the first two lights and they work fine. I am having  trouble with the third light's wiring to the ceiling. I cut and removed  the old ballast without paying much attention because I was able to wire  the first two lights without any problem. I connected the new ballast  to the bulb sockets in the fixture, just like I did with the first two  lights. When I went to connect the ballast's black and white power lines  to the ceiling lines, I was thrown off by a red wire, which I guess is  connected to the light switch.  In addition, this light is connected to  the one of the other fluorescent lights and both are controlled by the  switch. I have attached  pictures of how I have it wired.



The way I have it wired now,  the other light turns on and works fine when the switch is flipped.  However, this light has the bulb flicker and then not turn on. If anyone  can tell what I'm doing wrong from looking at the pictures, I'd  appreciate any help! Thanks!
      

I just ordered some Arlington Siding Mount Kits with built in electrical boxes to install some lights on the outside of my garage. 



So, the issue is, the mount kits' built in electrical boxes are only 6.8 cu each and I'm wiring the lights up with two 3-way switches.  The source is at the first switch, then on to the two lights and then to the second switch.  There is not enough room to do the splices and connection in the built in boxes (I'm using 12awg, but even if used 14 still not enough room), so my plan was to wire everything to a central junction box inside the garage between the two lights and make the appropriate connections there. 



I'm attaching my rough sketch of the planned connections (omitting ground wires).  Can you guys please confirm this is correct?    Thanks for the help!



To clarify the drawing, blue is white (neutral) and the blue with black tape coming off second switch is marked as hot.  (I'll also mark it as hot in the J-box).  Yellow Triangles are wire-nuts.
      

I have an outdoor light fixture that I am trying to replace.  The house was built ten years ago.



When I removed the original lamp, I noticed one of the two leads was wired to the ground, and one was wired to the black wire, which is hot per my current sensor.  There are three wires in the box - black, ground (bare copper), and white or neutral, all from a single romex cable.  Unfortunately, I do not recall where the white was when I removed the original. 



I wired the new lamp per the instructions, something I have done many times before - black to black, white to white, and bare copper ground to ground.  Nothing.  The lamp and bulbs are brand new, and I have tried four separate bulbs.  I checked the black and neutral with my current sensor and with the switch on and the lamp installed this way, both show as hot. With the lamp not installed, the switch on, and the wires disconnected only the black shows as hot.  The switch is single pole, and appears to be wired correctly with a black to each screw on one side and a copper ground on the other.



Assuming the new fixture was bad, I reinstalled the old fixture correctly -  black to black, white to white, and bare copper ground to ground.  Still nothing. No light, and I confirmed the bulb is good by putting it in another lamp.   The only way to get it to light is to connect the neutral in the lamp to the bare copper ground.



I capped the wires, turned the circuit back on, and identified all the outlets, switches and fixtures on the same circuit.  I opened every one of them up (four lights and eight outlets) and found three (one switch and two fixtures in another room) where multiple commons connect.  All were properly connected.  My outlet tester shows all outlets as "correct".  I found no instances of grounds connected to commons or vice-versa.



Any ideas?  Is it proper to wire this thing the way I found it?



Thanks for any and all advice!
      

So I recently bought a home.  There was an old rusted and rotted lamp post out front.  This past weekend it blew over in the wind.  Not kidding.   I turned off the circuit on our breaker box, i unscrewed the caps connecting the main wire to the lamp head. I removed the poll lamp head, can I just recap the single wires and roll the wire back into the ground?  Will just capping the wires be safe?
      

I am trying to install a SunSmart Digital Timer to my hall lightswitch (single pole). The timer has 5 wires: Black, White, Blue, Red, and Green. My switch box only has 3 wires: Black, White, and the bare ground wire. I connected the black to the black, white to white, and green to the bare ground. I have power to the timer but the light doesn't work. What should I do with the blue and red wires? Right now I have each capped off. Thanks.
      

We had a pipe disconnect above the downstairs bathroom and the ceiling just about came down, so I decided since it was a hedious looking space, that it was a sign from the gods: Reno time!



Im now at the wiring stage. Originally there was a junction box with a light fixture out one side and a single pole switch(no ground screw...grnd wire attached to the box)on  the other. Typical set up: white from switch marked "hot" or "black" at both ends, and spliced with the incoming power's black wire. Then remaining blacks are spliced together as are the remaining whites... grounded accordingly.



What Im trying to do now is add a GFCI receptical to the mix. But Im having some trouble figuring it all out. NOTE: light fixture is not installed yet, just the wire for it with the ends capped off with a wire nut on each of the wires (Wht/Black/Grnd)



First, whats in the walls: Circuits on a 15 AMP fuse with older (but not the oldest) 12/2 wire with a blue weaved fiber outside cover. Still looks to be in great shape. I've continued using newer, yellow (Lomex or Romex?) 12/2 from homedepot as I've read that you should not mix 14 and 12 together.

All that is on the cicuit is 3 pot lights with 65w bulbs, single bulb on the stairway and what ever goes in the bathroom, so from my math, there should be plenty of room left on the circuit.



What I've tried so far:

A: I spliced the "hot"/"black" white wire from the switch to the incoming power's black, like before. Then I spliced all remaining blacks together with a wire nut, then the same with all remaining whites and then all grounds (did not attach any grnd wire to the Junction box).



Result, Nothing. After switching on the power, I tested the GFCI with a voltage tester as well as the switch and got no read.



B: Undid everything, re-spliced all like to like: all blck together, all white together..etc.



Result: Fuse trips.



Im no electrician, which I imagine is blatantly obvious from the above post, but I am following a Homedepot wiring manual, its just that what Im trying to do is not really addressed in the book... at least not directly. So I've been trying to figure it out by reading every single page, but Im still at a loss.



I've attached a very basic diagram of what is there right now. Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

John
      

Hi, I recently moved into a 1954 house with a  20amp electrical system, not the old fuse type, but there are no ground wires.



I removed an old light and replaced it with a light fan combo. As I removed the old light (after turning off the breaker) I noticed from the ceiling that there were 2 white wires tied together with a wire nut and 2 black wires, one attached to the white wire in the light and the other attached to the black one from the light. Feeling this was wrong and should be black to black, white to white, (even knowing full well the light was working fine before I disconnected it) I wired the fan the way I've always wired fan lights,  white to white, blue and black to black.  (again, knowing full well the light was working the other way). Turned breaker on then powered on switch. POP at the switch, breaker switched off. I reworked it back to the way it was before with whites tied off, black to white, black and blue to black, turned it back on and  viola, things worked fine. (I know, duh... Right???)

2 questions from this experience...

1. Why would the 2 whites be tied off with only black wires used?

And 2. It seems that one of the light switches in the same circuit as the blown one is now working soft. In other words, it used to make the normal click noise when turned on/off but now it just moves softly up and down without the click. Could I have damaged something when I mis-wired?
      

hello

I am dealing with what seems like a strange issue with a single pole switch, and I am royally baffled even after reaching out to someone a little more knowledgeable than me.



Yesterday: Replaced with a single pole switch with an identical one that I painted (for decor reasons). Two wires were going into the old, and the same 2 wires are attached to the new one. However, the light it controls fails to come on despite light bulb being good, and outlet located 4 feet below the switch fails to operate. With voltmeter in hand I tested voltages.

At the switch: 3 wires feed into it, all whites capped together, and 2 of the 3 blacks (A,B,C) are hot with 110. A is hot and was/is connected to one of the terminals of the single pole switch. B and C (hot) are capped together with a jumper that goes to the other terminal of the single pole switch. So I am royally baffled as to why a switch would be wired with 2 hot wires going into it. I swear it has been like that since we bought the house a year ago, and the light worked fine. I simply replaced the switch with the same wiring, and now it doesnt work. I even touched both hots (A and C) independently to wire B which (using common sense) should be the load wire to the lamp, but the lamp did not come one.



Other outlets in that circuit do not work either. They get 110 to line and ground, but not across the outlet.



I hope I was clear in explaining, and I hope someone can possibly shed some light so I can resolve this.



Thank you
      

wanted to get feeback on my crude wiring diagram i put together for my small bathroom remodel. does it appear to be sound or am i way off base??



details:



* 20A dedicated circuit

* 12/2 wiring

* outlet's will be GFCI

* double gang box will contain:

* timer unit for exhaust fan

* double switch for heat lamp and lights

* Ground wiring is not shown but each fixture/outlet/switch will be connected to ground wire

* by calculations, the 34cu box is fine for the number of conductors/size of wiring. per box specs could handle 15/12g wires.

* the scanner cut off the bottom part of the picture, the 2 lights on the right are fed from the same switch, neutral's connected together.



F = Exhaust Fan

L = Light

HL = Heat Lamp

T = Timer switch

S = Switch

H = Hot

N = Neutral

Wire Nuts are in the box connecting the pigtails



Thank you for your input.
      

Hi All,



Need to replace an old faulty two switch fixture in the bathroom (light and exhaust fan). Right now, each switch on the single fixture separately operates either the light or the fan, regardless of the position of the other switch. Want to keep things that way. 



Here is a picture of the old fixture's wiring: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1179096/photo1.jpg



To replace this fixture, I bought to the Leviton 5634 (design diagram he  http://communities.leviton.com/servl...224%205634.pdf)



Unfortunately, what is confusing me is the the different designs between the two fixtures and the fact that the original unit seems to have some kind of patch or cross over type wire connecting the top and the bottom switches (see photo link above).



Any help/advice on how to wire this new fixture based on the picture of the current wiring configuration would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!