Wiring help need

[sizzler90]

Wiring help needed

I recently bought a couple of 4 foot shop lights and I am trying to replace my 2 60 watt light bulb sockets with electrical plugs to plug the shop lights into. I had no trouble changing the first one. The second one is giving me trouble though. I wired the second plug and the first plug stopped working. The second one works though. These are in my garage, they have 2 light switches that work them, one at each door to the garage (about 20 feet apart).
I attached a picture of the socket wiring I am having trouble with. I don't know if it will help any. I really don't want to hire a spark chaser to change a light fixture.

 

[porcupine73]

Can you show the other side of that light fixture? I haven't seen one like that with three wires going in. Does that fixture have an outlet plug in it? If so maybe the red is for the outlet and the black is for the lamp and the neutral is shared. But I don't see a ground on the lamp fixture so the outlet if there is one can't (hope!) to be groundeed.............

 

[IDASHO]

Well, at least you have the correct number of leads for a 3-way switch, thats a start

Every time I try to wire a 3-way, matter how many times Ive done it before, I HAVE to pull out the trusty electrical book. They are tricky, and mind boggling.

And dealing with so many leads, some white leads being uses as hots, jumping in to figure it out is a **** shoot.

The first thing I would do is turn off the power, pull both fixtures to expose the wires, and pull the switch itself to expose the wires. Until you find out what wires are doing what, everything is just a guess, especially when you have 2 fixtures, and the original electrician might have changed color coding between the two.

Here is what I use:

 

[sizzler90]

Can you show the other side of that light fixture? I haven't seen one like that with three wires going in. Does that fixture have an outlet plug in it? If so maybe the red is for the outlet and the black is for the lamp and the neutral is shared. But I don't see a ground on the lamp fixture so the outlet if there is one can't (hope!) to be groundeed.............

I put it back together already, so I will need to tell you what I can remember. There are 3 ground wires twisted together up in the box that the shown light is attached. The other side of the fixture is just a socket for a bulb (no outlet plug).
I can take it apart and post more pictures tomorrow if needed.

 

[kbs2244]

If you have put it all back toghether, and everything still works correctly, then just get a screw in adaptor and plug the shop light into it.
In fact if you get one with an outlet on it, you can have both a tube and a bulb light fed from it.

 

[sizzler90]

If you have put it all back toghether, and everything still works correctly, then just get a screw in adaptor and plug the shop light into it.
In fact if you get one with an outlet on it, you can have both a tube and a bulb light fed from it.

I was thinking of doing that, but I can't find a 3 prong adapter.