Light Fixture Wiring Question

[mikcool1080]

Good evening! I am a homeowner with very little electrical knowledge and am looking for assistance wiring used fluorescent light fixtures in my garage space. I would be eternally grateful if anyone were able to assist me, as I have spent many hours trying to figure this out.

The fixtures are four foot/six bulb t5 fluorescent. The garage was wired with 12/3 romex (white/copper/red/black) and I don't know how/where to connect the wiring. I have four receptacles in the garage on two separate switches, each one controlling half. In the last picture it shows that both of the ballasts are tied together and connected to what appears to be quick disconnect connectors.

After much research, I understand that fluorescent/ballast fixtures are outdated/inefficient, but I would rather not spend the money on LED bulbs at this time. I would like to be able to utilize them before I make the jump to LED bulbs. I included many pictures and any help that you may be able to provide would be immensely helpful. Thank you for your time.

 

[justsam]

The black/white on the ballast is the power in. Connect that to your 120VAC source, which should also be black/white. Green is ground and should connect to the green on the Romex cable you had a picture of and to the metal chassis of the light fixtures. It looks like the yellow connectors on the fixtures are set up to daisy chain the fixtures assuming you have more than one. It looks like each two tubes will draw about 1 amp. Not sure how many you have but a typical lighting circuit is good for 15 Amps, or a total of 30 tubes, that you want to reduce to 80 percent or 24 tubes.

 

[mikcool1080]

The black/white on the ballast is the power in. Connect that to your 120VAC source, which should also be black/white. Green is ground and should connect to the green on the Romex cable you had a picture of and to the metal chassis of the light fixtures. It looks like the yellow connectors on the fixtures are set up to daisy chain the fixtures assuming you have more than one. It looks like each two tubes will draw about 1 amp. Not sure how many you have but a typical lighting circuit is good for 15 Amps, or a total of 30 tubes, that you want to reduce to 80 percent or 24 tubes.

Thank you for the quick reply justsam!

When you say to connect the black/white to the 120VAC source are you referring to connecting both ballasts black/white to the 120VAC source? And if so, there is a red wire coming out of the larger ballast, do I connect that to the red coming out of the Romex? The fixtures were installed in a large warehouse so that would make sense that the yellow connectors were used to daisy chain them, as it has dozens of fixtures installed on motion activated circuits. I have four of them, one for each of the receptacles in my garage.

 

[Bert_]

The fixtures are capable of two level switching. Looks like both ballasts are jumpered together for one switch operation.

You have 12/3 Romex. Is it wired to a single light switch?

The yellow connectors are ballast disconnects which have been required for several years.

Nothing wrong with T5 fluorescent. Buying new led fixtures will never pay for itself in a home environment when you can get good quality used florescent fixed for cheap.

Not sure how tall your garage is but these fixtures are best at 14'+

 

[nadogail]

If you are anywhere reasonably close to me, I will be happy to talk about when I can come visit you at no charge and share some of my knowledge and experience.

PM me with your contact info.

 

[mikcool1080]

The fixtures are capable of two level switching. Looks like both ballasts are jumpered together for one switch operation.

You have 12/3 Romex. Is it wired to a single light switch?

The yellow connectors are ballast disconnects which have been required for several years.

Nothing wrong with T5 fluorescent. Buying new led fixtures will never pay for itself in a home environment when you can get good quality used florescent fixed for cheap.

Not sure how tall your garage is but these fixtures are best at 14'+

Thank you for the response Bert_!

The garage has two light switches that control two sets of light receptacles. I hope that makes sense. That is all very good info as I have very little knowledge when it comes to this department. It makes sense that the fixtures work best in taller ceiling work spaces as they were in my works warehouse that have very high ceilings. Will it be a bad thing installing them in my garage that has 8' ceilings?

If you are anywhere reasonably close to me, I will be happy to talk about when I can come visit you at no charge and share some of my knowledge and experience.

PM me with your contact info.

Thank you for the reply nadogail!

Unfortunately I don't live very close, as I am in South Dakota. I appreciate the offer though!!

 

[Bert_]

They are not going to be very good at 8' high. Going to make a small bright spot with a lot of shadows. These lights shine down not very far to the side. Maybe ok over a bench where you want a lot of light in a small area.

 

[Bert_]

If you're just wanting to put a cord on the lights connect to the black and white in the yellow connectors