Flourescent fixture mods

I plan on adding more in my garage but the ones I see at box stores all have hanging chains and 5 foot cords, but I want mine hard wired and flush mounted.

Is it kosher to just pop them open and go for it?

Many pendants are not rated for surface mounting. They require the airspace for cooling. Mine weren't rated for surface mounting, but I mounted them perpendicular to my open ceiling joists, so they're pretty much the same as being hung. The only contact area is where the joist crosses the fixture and it's not anywhere near the ballasts. I know, it's not code...

Tommy

I can easily space them down on the joists, that's not a problem.

wrench409 said:

I plan on adding more in my garage but the ones I see at box stores all have hanging chains and 5 foot cords, but I want mine hard wired and flush mounted.

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You must not have been looking very hard. The following references are ALL from either Home Depot or Lowe's:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...rescent-Strip-Light-C-2-32-120-GESB/100543144


http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-2-Light-Utility-Light-3348-2L32W-WRAP/100654395


http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...hite-Fluorescent-Light-Fixture-3324/202192968


http://www.lowes.com/pd_163697-337-WP232RLU_0__?productId=3181895


http://www.lowes.com/pd_336745-13537-336745_0__?productId=3686312


http://www.lowes.com/pd_384285-337-WP217RNKLLU_0__?productId=50077497

wrench409 said:

I can easily space them down on the joists, that's not a problem.

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Unless your joists/ceiling is exceptionally high, you probably don't want to do that. The lower you mount the light sources, the less opportunity they have to spread their output over a usefully large area before reaching "working height". That in turn means you'll need more individual sources to effectively cover a given area, even if the so-called "average illumination level" is in the ballpark.

LS6 Tommy said:

Many pendants are not rated for surface mounting. They require the airspace for cooling. Mine weren't rated for surface mounting, but I mounted them perpendicular to my open ceiling joists, so they're pretty much the same as being hung. The only contact area is where the joist crosses the fixture and it's not anywhere near the ballasts. I know, it's not code...

Tommy

Click to expand...

This. Which for a guy not paying attention to any codes (me) meant that the 4' hangers I used in the old shop were screwed to the joists using small spacers cut from 1x4, mounted with 2" dry wall screws - one in each end. Code or no code, I just didn't want a hot ballast up next to a wood joist. Having said that, it's a total PITA to drill holes in the ends to run romex and the ballast bay is really tight for 12 AWG and even 14 AWG. To change one out, you'll be cussin and fussin getting things undone. I would recommend looking at the above units pictured, much easier to use and cheap. The nice ones with the wrapper (4th pic) run about $20/each.