Basically I have a basement area / workroom. Two regular edison light bulb slots. I would like to replace them with three Fluorescent strips like this
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Item #: 163719 Model: SS232UNVEB81 from Lowes. So my question is How do I get power to the center one? Just buy X amount of cable, hard wite those babies where the bulb sockets are now, and just cap it off from where I connect the fixture's lights to the house power? Parallel?
Yep, can be done. Three lights in parallel. Essentially the flourescents are wired up just like the existing lights. There won't be any need to "cap it off" at the end of the line, since those power wires will be connected to the flourescent light. (if "cap it off" means cut the wire & put wire nuts on it, connecting to nothing)
Just for the record, I have to report that fluorescent fixtures do not
***ALWAYS*** perform the same as incandescents even if they are wired the same:
I purchased 24 fluorescent strip lights from Home Depot, each containing an electronic ballast and sockets for 2 fluorescent T-8/T-12 style 32 watt bulbs. These fixtures use the newest electronic ballasts, are extremely efficient, make no hum or other noises like magnetic ballasts, and were on sale for $6.99 per fixture.
When they were all installed as three sets of 8 fixtures, each set on its' own circuit/switch, I found that an extremely high rate of failures occurred, arising from what I subsequently learned is called "ballast fratricide", a process wherein the switching transients from the ballasts all being simultaneously switched results in spikes which the ballasts are unable to dissipate without damage.
It turns out that strip lights especially are not filtered adequately, neither in terms of the emitted spikes which damage other nearby/connected loads, nor in terms of rejecting fast transient spikes which arise elsewhere and need to be dissipated.
I spent some time with an oscilloscope and a lot of measurements before being able to find where the problems were, and have subsequently learned that others have reported the same type of problem with the newest electronic ballasts in some commercial installations.
If one takes an in-depth look at the schematic and waveforms produced by the electronic ballast during the start-up cycle, and also looks at the chipset spec sheets from the ballast ICs involved, it becomes apparent that huge switching transients are typical, and that external filtering is up to the fixture designer who incorporates these ICs into their ballast.
The bottom line is that some fluorescent fixtures cannot be simply wired as if they are incandescents, since they will destroy their neighbors and themselves, in my case over only a few days of normal use.
My solution was ultimately to replace all 24 ballasts with another, better filtered design which, unlike the Home Deport brand, have a lot of spike filtering as well as a 5 year warranty.
You are entirely correct. The fixtures were, as you said, what one might expect for such a low price. The point of posting this was to illustrate that all fixtures are NOT created equal and for fluorescent fixtures specifically, this makes a whole lot of difference when wiring them up in group as I did.
Thanks for your posting. Had never heard of this potential for high incidence of failure with electronic fluorescent ballasts. Within last year acquired about 7 used (four tube ) fixtures being taken out of a school being renovated. If I had not taken them the job foreman said they were on their way to the dump! I also obtained seven of the T10 type tubes (the thinner one inch ones) and bought another twenty. Five of the seven are now in service in our basement workshop; have had one tube failure but no ballast problems; so far. However also have a bunch of conventional ballasts and conventional tubes and have often 'rebuilt' older fixtures. So, if necessary can convert these electronic ballast ones to conventional. This is in Canada, 115 volt 60 hertz etc. Total load on our string is
5 fixtures, four 34 watt tubes each (total 20 tubes five ballasts) for approximate wattage (inductive?) of 680 watts. Maybe the fact that our fluorescents were well used and were working when removed eliminated any prone to 'early failures'? However several years ago our local junior school (approx 500 pupils) did a major conversion (to electronic ballasts and modified many of the fixtures with better reflectors) and we have not heard of any problem with frequent failures? Thanks for the comments.
I too was surprised to run into this, and the cheaper electronic ballasts are made with a lot less filters, much smaller filter capacitors, no inductors / chokes, and no transorbs or other surge protection. The ballasts used in the portable plug-in fluorescent strips are the least protected for the ones I have taken apart. I guess the designer / engineers took the position that these would not be wired in banks of many fixtures being turned on at exactly the same time.
The electr>> Just for the record, I have to report that fluorescent fixtures do not
I learned that lesson as you did many years ago. I bought a cheapo fixture, and it was terribly noisy and it would not light below 60 degrees. I will not buy a fluorescent light unless I'm allowed to open a sample and inspect the ballast. I'm no expert, but the ones with the big, heavy duty ballasts seen to be the way to go. When the ballast goes bad, time for a new fixture. It's not the time or expense to replace just the ballast. As far as my reference to the wiring, Why does it make a difference? Hot to hot, neutral to neutral, ground to ground. Why does it make a difference when wiring them in a group? You lost me on that one.
No, what imeant was, twist two wires, put a cap on it, electrical tapeon there, and stick it on a junction box if its outside the fixture. Which might not be needed actually. I look at the four footersand they put off enough light at work for the whole area; this room is smaller but doesn't have as many bright walls. So I'll start off with two, and if I need more I'll cross that bridge when I get there... As Ted Kennedy used to say. I won't do this for a while, hence the otherperson in the other thread is somewhat overreacting. I want to get all the info before I start tripping breakers and cutting wires.
Your wiring approach is correct and I made no earlier comment or reference to it. The "group" issue is merely that the spikes which travel among grouped fixtures and cause this failure only occur when more than one fixture is wired on the same switched (parallel) circuit. The very same fixtures installed individually do not fail in the manner I described.
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