Electrical help

jmccracken1214

jmccracken1214

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The kitchen light in my house has been causing issues and finally went out last night. It is an old fluorescent light that takes two round bulbs and has a ballast powering them. It is very old and I am surprised it lasted this long. The wires are black and brown I'm assuming the black is hot and the brown is neutral will this be correct? If I get a small voltage tester and touch to the wire would only read one touch to the hot wire?
 
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Are you replacing the ballast or the entire fixture? Should be a green wire somewhere. Maybe attached to fixture. If you get a meter someone can walk you thru checking for Hot, neutral and ground. Or practice at a working ac 110 outlet.
Also is it possible the brown wire is discolored and may be white?
 
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The brown wire is on the input (house) side of the ballast? A ballast is basically a regulated power supply, so you’ll have input voltage on one side and output on the other. And there’s about a gazillion different ones, and NONE of them use the exact same colors...
The brown wire sounds like it’s on the output side. There may be a label or schematic on your ballast.


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jmccracken1214 said:
Ill get it taken down and look again after I eat and unhook the wires before going to get a new one. Im putting in a LED fixture.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Non-Contact-Voltage-Tester-NCVT-1SEN/100661787

If i get that, it should beep or whatever, when I get it on the hot wire?
Click to expand...
Yes. VERY handy little tool so you don’t zap the shit out of yourself. Sling a screwdriver across the room, scare 3 big dogs who all at the same time try to get away from you while trying to get traction on a linoleum floor.

Don’t ask how I know that.[emoji38]




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For what you are doing just go to harbor freight and get one of those $5 meters. Once you have the light down touch the black probe to the box or ground (green or bare copper) wire. Touch the red probe to the black wire. Should be voltage present. Then touch the red probe to the "brown" wire. Should read 0. That is with the switch in the on position.
 
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To your original question...

Only one wire will be hot with the wall switch turned on. Test by turning wall switch on and off.
Neutral/ White will be the other.
If there is a ground wire it will be bare or green and connected to the fixture housing.
 
Or go to Harbor Freight, spend a buck (actually 80 cents after the coupon) and take home a free multimeter that will do the job well enough.

https://www.harborfreight.com/
 
Got the old crap out, it was a red and white wire. Red hot. so no issue there. The new LED light is installed and working fine. I just took the fuse out of the box for the kitchen so no worries of zapping myself....

My last question, since this is a older home, there isnt a ground wire, in the box. I dont know if the box itself is grounded... Could I just buy one of the green screws (are they the same as regular screws) and put in the box, for the ground wire to go to?
 
jmccracken1214 said:
My last question, since this is a older home, there isnt a ground wire, in the box. I dont know if the box itself is grounded... Could I just buy one of the green screws (are they the same as regular screws) and put in the box, for the ground wire to go to?
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No. You have no grounding system and the switch box is not grounded. For proper grounding you would need to run an independent ground wire from the switch box to a grounding source. Probably the fuse panel. Do not use water pipes or gas pipes. That's rigging. They are easily compromised and you would lose the ground.
You're fine. Just understand you don't have a grounding system. There are zillions of old houses just like yours and as long as you don't try to pull some rigged-up stupid-s**t you'll be ok.
The brown wire in the fixture is the neutral wire. It used to be white until the fixture over the years baked the insulation. Understand that baked insulation is now hard and crusty and likes to fall off the wire, so use care when handling them.
 
Come on over. ;)
 
Much better.
Much less heat, uses far less power.
Did you ever have to change the bulbs in that old circular? Talk about something that's just itching to break in your face.
And I think the bulbs are about as expensive as the whole new fixture you just put in.
 
Friday said:
Much better.
Much less heat, uses far less power.
Did you ever have to change the bulbs in that old circular? Talk about something that's just itching to break in your face.
And I think the bulbs are about as expensive as the whole new fixture you just put in.
Click to expand...
Just now saw this.
I don't believe the bulbs were changed in the 6+ years this house has been with my family. They were going bad when I got the house, where the plugs go, the bulb would turn red and I'd have to tap it to get it to come on. The ballist was original with the house, it lasted since the 50's.
It was going to cost right at the same as the new light, to change the bulbs and ballist.
 
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