Originally Posted by JARblue

This is an appeal to the resident forum electricians (BFG, LMB, and anyone else with experience).

I got the new ballasts for my 72" two lamp T12 fluorescent light fixtures in the garage, and the wiring is slightly different that the existing set up. I got new lamp holders as well, and I'm having some difficulty getting the old ones off.

First, the lamp holders - I removed the end plate from the fixture and it looks like the plastic holders should just slide out the back. However, the side of each one seems to be clipped on the outside. If I wiggle them good, the inside track seems to be loose and starts to slide, but the outside track won't budge. I took a mirror and looked at it from all angles and was unable to determine where or how it is still attached. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. If you think it will help, I will post some pics tomorrow morning. Since I got new ones, I don't really care about these and plan to cut them out as a last resort.

Second, the wiring. Attached are the wiring diagrams from the labels of each ballast. The old, worn label, is obviously the old ballast. The wiring is done exactly as it is shown. The new ballast appears to be wired differently, especially with regard to the new lamp holders I purchased. It looks like I just wire the two blue wires to the lamp holders on one end and the red wire connects both lamp holders on the other end. Do I have to just cut some of the red wire and make a connection from the first lamp holders connected on that end to the second lamp holder? I'm not sure what the diagram means when it says "cut out lamp holder". Also, the lamp holders have different connections. One side has a single pair of holes for connecting the wiring. The other end has two pairs of holes. In the existing wiring, the lamp holders with two pairs of connecting holes has to be wired up to accept the incoming power and ground from the house as well as the wiring from the ballast (one wire goes into one hole in each pair). However, the new ballast wires directly to the power and ground from the house, and both lamp holders only receive one wire. Does it matter which lamp holders gets wired with the blue wires vs the red wire?

Sorry for the book... I only have a basic understanding of electricity, so I like to make sure I understand exactly what I'm doing before I screw with it. Thanks for bearing with me

Originally Posted by JARblue

The New "What did you do with your Z today" (with off topic replies) VII

So while I dislike working with electricity, I also forgot to mention that I'm impatient. I had a break and went home and spent 15 minutes getting the light working again

The lamp holders were just stuck good and tight (that's what she said!). I managed to hammer them off with a screwdriver handle. The wiring was exactly as it seemed. When I looked closer at the wires, I noticed the red one was slightly longer than the blue ones. I cut off that extra length and connected the red wire to one of the two lamp holders with two sets of connections, and then wired the two lamp holders together with the extra piece of wire. Everything is working great!

Looks like no word on the test scores but I am about to leave to go pick Melody up to head to the comedy festival