T1B

In a downstairs back room of may house I have a "false" ceiling that has two flourescent light fixtures. Each fixture looks like a shop light and they are hard wired in. An old neigbor put them in for me and the sons a bitches haven't ever worked right. Lights stay on for awhile and then they go to about 1/4 brightness and then they blacken on one end.

I"m shootin' the shit yesterday with this guy who claims to be a "handyman" and he hears my story. "Sounds like those things are'nt grounded."

Anyway, I get up there, take off the plates and check out the wiring. I see the white and black wires coming out from the lamps and into the little electrical doo hickeys one uses to connect the power wires to the lamp. I see the bare copper wire is just pulled back and apparantly not in use. I check around both lamp fixtures and see NO apparant ground wire in place. wtf?

I read the shit off the ballast for both and basically they are the same: F40 T12 and it says, "Ground ballast and mount lamps 1/2" of grounded metal reflectors."

I'm going to head up to Ace Hardware in a few minutes. Will all I need is a ground wire for each and then hook each to a set screw on the reflector and run the ground to another screw/nail/metal that is 1/2 away at the stud?

Help a tard out, here.

Luth

Rip City

hmmm--
sounds like the same guys that did the wiring in my house were out your way-- the bare copper wire is the ground-- is your house wired with 3 wire "Romex" ?
The ground wires should have been connected.
I replaced all the "old" fluorescent fixtures in my bathrooms here with more contemporary incandescent lights with dimmer switches--- not sure if that's an option for you, but I was never a fan of fluorescent.

You were never a fan of tire fires either.

I'm not an elctrician, but I can certainly play on on the internet.

Haven't messed with flourescent lights in a long time...now, if you wanna discuss your HID lighting, say metal halide and high pressure sodium... bring it on. What do you wanna know?

Flourescents... well, they just don't quite produce the same level of flowering.


But... if my memory from years ago is clicking (BWAHAHAHA), the bare ground from your house wiring should go to a ground wire(should be green, but DO NOT just start hooking up ballast wires where you think they might go) in the wires going into the ballast case, and there should be either a wire coming from the ballast case or one from the output wiring of the ballast that connects to the metal of the hood.

Ya'know... if you go to all the trouble of taking out those 2 or 4 screws holding the ballast in, there will be a wiring diagram for the ballast... no, really. It'll be a sticker right on the case. I generally go with the wiring scheme that the ballast manufacturer came up with, rather than a drunk neighbor with no electric certs or the zitty making $9 an hour at Ace. But that's just me.


But go ahead and fuck around with it for a few days. Because goodness knows, dual 4 foot flourescent fixtures(I believe that's what the "T40" is -- indicates a 40W 4 footer) don't sell for a few dollars at Home D, or Ace, or other such stores. And goodness knows, those fixtures don't come with new ballasts included. And goodness knows, newer style electronic ballasts don't go to shit every few years anyway. And goodness knows, running an unreliable new-style ballst ungrounded won't have æffected the expected lifespan of the ballst(which the "expected lifespan) probably expired years ago). And goodness knows, when fired by a shitty ballast, you don't get the dark rings around the end of the tubes, the use of which tends to trash the life expectancy of the ballast(one hand washing the other). And goodness knows, any replacement fixtures won't come with a wiring diagram to hook them up properly.


Yup Luth -- I think you should spend the next several hours/days/weeks fucking around with those flourescent fixtures before you replace them -- it's what retired old coots do... spend $50 in gas to try and save an old POS before the end up replacing said old POS. And as an added benefit, the kid down at Ace will think you're a dumbfuck, to boot.

Definitely don't replace those low-dollar fixtures. Chinese-made solid-state ballasts are THE SHIT, they last forever just like everything else China makes, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

Ground wire installed, and we now have lights.

They are gay and I'll replace these babies soon. Hang on, Dins, I just had 5 new beds delivered to the house. I don't have a job like you. Bwah.

I'm going to have a beer right now Dins and maybe take a little nappie. I suspect you're still at your desk or whatever you working guys are doing right now. I just checked my thermostat and it is creeping up to 74 degrees inside here. Whew.

Thanks anyway.

Rip City

Luther wrote:Ground wire installed, and we now have lights.

They are gay and I'll replace these babies soon. Hang on, Dins, I just had 5 new beds delivered to the house. I don't have a job like you. Bwah.

I'm going to have a beer right now Dins and maybe take a little nappie. I suspect you're still at your desk or whatever you working guys are doing right now. I just checked my thermostat and it is creeping up to 74 degrees inside here. Whew.

Thanks anyway.

Rip City

Might back off the $ 3.99 tubes from Ace that last about a week. Was in your hood yesteday Luth, fuck it was hot out there. Butr you probably were cooling your heels anyway.

And what the fuck does an old retired fuck do with 5 fucking beds anyway pray tell ??

Let me guess -- grounding the ballast also solved the slow wireless internet problem, the TV remote spazzing out problem, and the inability to get AM radio problem, all at once?


You should consider having your neighbor wire up the whole house for you.

Dinsdale wrote:Let me guess -- grounding the ballast also solved the slow wireless internet problem, the TV remote spazzing out problem, and the inability to get AM radio problem, all at once?


You should consider having your neighbor wire up the whole house for you.

If he's like my neighbor who is also "retired", then he will talk your fucking ear off, even though I have paying work to do , and dude will follow me around telling me inane shit about ... well.... nothing I give a fuck about ..

Tell me Luth when you guys retire, do you have this transformation where you don't have a clue that part of the rest of the world is NOT retired, and therefore has a LOT OF SHIT to do ??

Just sayin...

Derron wrote:Tell me Luth when you guys retire, do you have this transformation where you don't have a clue that part of the rest of the world is NOT retired

They sure seem to go through this transformation that causes them to routinely confuse the words "handyman" and "electrician."

Internet is Comcast cable, and it screams along just fine.
TV is DirecTV, and all is coming in just fine.

I've got some used oil burning lamps around for heat and such. Bother the working guys like everyone here? Oh hell no. There are some fine minds here who have their own little cubicles where their bosses think they are working instead of posting. I haven't been back to any of the police precincts since I hung up the holster and that was way back in Jan. of '03.

I come here to learn about life from the best the Internet has to offer. Dins was right though about the fluorescent lights. Once the ballasts die, I'm taking the things down. I thought about a chronic grow lab with some halide stuff in place of what I have. I don't like the room anyway, but it is the fifth bedroom that seldom gets use...except for me when I'm in the dog house, or if it is just too hot upstairs to sleep. Mrs. Luth really doesn't like the AC, but I do.

5 beds? One kid home from the U of P, one boy in H.S., and me and the wife, plus a guest bed or two.

Rip City

p.s. Actually I was going to trash this thread once I got an answer, but I guess you can't self-delete here after posts have been made. So if a mod/admin want to send this away, then have at it.

Luther wrote:Internet is Comcast cable, and it screams along just fine.

Yeah...RF interference doesn't æffect shielded coax -- but can do a hell of a munber on wireless, depending on the frequency of the interference and whatnot.

TV is DirecTV, and all is coming in just fine.

I'm sure it is. My joke was about the TV remotes, since improperly wired ballasts can start emitting infrared light, which will fuck with the doohicker that recieves the remote signal.

Dins was right though about the fluorescent lights. Once the ballasts die, I'm taking the things down.

Besides the not flowering as well part, I didn't say much to be right or wrong about. You can get replacement ballasts for a few bucks when those die(although some charge extra for wiring diagrams, apparently)...replace the bulbs at the same time-btw.

I thought about a chronic grow lab with some halide stuff in place of what I have.

Should have said something sooner -- I just got rid of all my HID ballasts and equipment and stuff. Then again, there's an indoor lighting shop on every corner of this town these days, so it ain't like it's hard to come by.


BTW -- ideally, you use halide(MH) for growth stage, and sodium(HPS) for the flowering stage. Different setups, unless you pay the big-bucks for the switchable ballasts.

As a compromise, you can get "enhanced HPS bulbs" that provide a lot more of the shorter-wavelength stuff, which results in much better performance out of sodiums during growth phase.


OR SO I'VE HEARD!!!!!

One kid home from the U of P

That's right -- I forgot you had a child "away at college"... like ten freaking miles up the road.