suzukir122
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| So I've got another F30T12 fixture on the way, as well as two HPF full powered magnetic R.S ballasts.
Although temporary, I'm going to place the fixture next to my previous F30T12 fixture in my closet in my bedroom. This is practice for
when I begin the real project in my living room... but the power supply will be from the previous fixture only. I will be using
just one cord for both fixtures... how do I ground the next fixture? I think I may have an idea of how to do this, but I just want to get
more info incase my idea on how to do this is incorrect.
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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AgentHalogen_87
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Long Live SOX!
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| Use a 3 core cable (multi or solid) so you have an earth wire already. Cut the cable at the desired length to reach the second fixture. Connect the two halves in the same side of the terminal block in the first fixture, then connect the other end of the joining cable to the terminal block in the second fixture. Finally wire up the plug on the other end of the cable.
Yes, I'm being British. The same method will work for wire nuts if that's what the fixtures have. And I'm not sure if you have user servicable plugs over there or if they are all moulded permenantly on the wires.
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suzukir122
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| I think that might sound similar to my idea but I'm uncertain. I've already got the three pronged cord wired up to the previous fixture
on a shelf in my closet. When the second fixture arrives, after I install the new magnetic ballasts, I'd hook up the hot and neutrals together
with the previous fixture's ballast hot and neutral, then get an extra ground wire, strip both ends of that ground wire and then screw down both
ends of that ground wire between the previous fixture's ground screw, and the new fixture's ground screw. That's my original plan but
I've got no clue if this is safe to do or not.
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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joseph_125
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| Here's how I'd do it. I'm assuming you bought a matching fixture, that would make it easier to join since the endplate can usually act as a coupler. If not a pair of bolts and a chase nipple for the through wiring will work.
Anyway, using some wire like #14 THHN from Home Depot (can buy per foot in black, white, green) , run a length from the existing fixture to the ballast leads and ground screw on the new fixture. Wire nut the THHN to the existing cord at one end, and to the ground screw and ballast leads of the new fixture.
If you want to have more than one wire under a ground screw, I recommend crimping some ring terminals to it so they stay better in place compared to just having the wire under the terminal. I have two ground wires under the screw but I always terminate with a crimp on ring terminal before. For #14 wire, the blue terminals will fit perfectly.
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suzukir122
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@Joseph_125, the power cord that I'm using has ground wire, hot, and neutral wires that might be similar to the one you linked to... I think. The kind of wires that are basically copper fibers put together. The main thing that's got me scratching my head is grounding. Would running a length of ground wire from the existing fixture's ground screw, to the new fixture's ground screw, be a safe and effective idea? Considering how low my brain power is, that's the best I have come up with... this includes with the result of my lack of understanding things.  |
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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sol
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| Yes, that is exactly how you do it. Just make sure you have a grommet or other connector between the fixtures. You have magnetic ballasts there and the vibration will eventually wear out the insulation on the wires…
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suzukir122
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| I knew I wanted a grommet as well but I just didn't know the name of them until now. Grommet...
I may possibly end up using five fixtures in tandem upstairs, since 3 footer fixtures seem smaller than I originally thought.
Would hooking up three fixtures to one power cord while using this same method, still be a safe idea?
This would be as far as I go in terms of linking fixtures together on one cord. No more than three.
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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joseph_125
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| There are two ways to extend the ground. Assume the fixture with the cord entering is #1 and the new one you're adding is #2. The first way is you can have a short grounding wire in #1, with a longer ground wire in fixture #1, long enough to extend to the ground screw in fixture #1. Then you wire nut the two ground wires with the ground from the cord.
The other way, you can crimp a ring terminal to the ground wire coming from the cord, fasten that to the ground screw in #1. Then get a piece of green wire long enough to reach the #2 ground screw from #1, crimp a ring terminal on each end, and fasten on end to the same ground screw in #1 and the other end to #2. The ring terminals make it a lot harder for the wire to come loose under the screw, I wouldn't put two wires under one screw without using the ring terminals.
@Sol, yeah, the 1/2" chase nipple and locknut I suggested is a good way as you also fasten the two fixtures together while leaving a smooth place for the wires to pass through. If he's using strip lights of the same model, he could skip it as most strip lights are designed to interlock to another of the same model using either a end plate or a strap. I think Lithonia strips have slots at each end of the channel for a endplate to slide into, which will interlock with the next striplight for continuous row mounting. With those you can skip using the grommet or chase nipple.
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suzukir122
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| Ring terminals! I forgot about those... yeah tomorrow I'm gonna see if I can purchase them... although it seems effective, I'm not a fan of
smashing down the wire with the grounding screw. Ring terminals are definitely the better option so I'm gonna try and see what I can do to
incorporate them into these installations.
Would these same methods also work well with three fixtures in tandem with one another, using one cord?
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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joseph_125
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| Yeah, much better than just having the wire under the grounding screw. It's not as bad with solid core wire but stranded is much better with a ring terminal. Make sure to pick up a crimper for it too, you should be able to pick up a kit with ring terminals and a crimper for $20 or less. A basic one will do.
Yeah, the same method can be used to wire three fixtures in tandem or more like in stores with long continuous rows of fluorescents in tandem.
You can wire fluorescent fixtures with some more crazy schemes too. Tandem wiring was a thing too, basically you would have two fixtures mounted in tandem sharing one 4 lamp ballast.
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suzukir122
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| @Joseph_125, I know exactly what you're talking about. At a Shop N Save grocery store that I use to shop at with family, the 2 lamp T8 fluorescent
strip fixtures, although electronic ballasted, would flicker wildly from time to time near the air condition units in the ceiling. Not sure why
that would happen... but... they'd flicker in fours. Four lamps wildly flickering. Most definitely four lamp electronic ballasts with those fixtures. lol
But yeah, with me, there will be a wattage limit. That cord and plug outlet can only handle so much... three ballasts is quite enough. :'-)
The other two fixtures in that row will be lit from a different cord, all five fixtures in tandem with one another, held up by wall mounted floating shelves.
I'll be on the lookout for crimpers and ring terminals. I knew about ring terminals, but I did not know about crimpers until now.
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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joseph_125
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Yeah, sounds like they're on the same ballast. Although I've noticed that with most electronic ballasts, the lamps are run in parallel which makes it less common to have all the lamps flickering like that. As for a wattage limit, it depends on the wire gauge of cord used as well as the length. Here's a good chart to determine the safe wattage of a cord. I use 18 gauge cords for most of my lights, with the exception of the higher power cobraheads which I always wire with 16 or 14 gauge cords. 14 gauge cords cost more but are the same gauge as the in wall wiring of your typical 15A circuit. Yeah, most of those ring terminals will require some sort of crimper in order to fix them to a wire. You can get crimpers in various style and price points. I use a ratcheting style crimper but those typically cost more than the basic crimpers. I suppose you could also solder the ring terminals and apply heat shrink after (done on large gauge automotive type ring terminals) but that seems to be more trouble than crimping. |
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suzukir122
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| @Joseph_125, the cord I will be using for these two fixtures is a 16 gauge cord, with over 1,600 watts max. haha... so I should correct myself...
three fixtures should be quite enough for that specific cord, since I'm not trying to connect four ballast wires to one power cord. :'-)
I also want to keep everything as neat as I possibly can. Keeping it clean... and really smooth.
Plus that way, *if* everything is completed by the end of this year and I decide to move, things would be much easier for me in terms of taking
everything apart for the move.
But dude... I cannot WAIT for this project to be complete. It will look really cool once completed, and start up could be awesome as well since
I'll be using different brands of tubes with each fixture.
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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