Greetings, I am hoping that someone can help with what looked to be a simple switch replacement. A home that we recently purchased has some older fluorescent lighting that is controlled by a dimmer switch. The bulbs would glow slightly even with the switch turned "off." My reading led me to the conclusion that fluorescents should not be used with dimmers unless they have a special ballast, etc.

Anyhow, all I am trying to do is to replace the dimmer with a 2-way paddle switch. I have some electrical experience, but none with dimmers. The dimmer switch had 4 wires coming into it, excluding ground (yellow, red, black, & white). The fixtures in the room are 2 separate rows of fluorescent fixtures, 3 fixtures in each row. Each row has 14/3 wiring going back to the switch box. There is 14/2 power coming into the box. This is the only location for turning the lights on & off.

I have tried wiring as follows, which is the best information I can gather:
Black hot coming in from panel goes onto 1 screw on the switch.
The white coming in from the panel goes onto the white going to light #1.
The black going to light # 1 goes onto the other screw of the switch.

In my case, I'm not sure that light #1 or #2 matters, since both fixture's wiring comes back to the switch. I have also tried wiring with both fixtures' wires pigtailed and then a lead coming back to the switch. I have been expecting at least half the room to get light, but so far, nada. Any advice here would be most appreciated!

Matthew

Tell us what you mean by a 2-way paddle switch. How many terminals (screws) does the switch have. You have three, 2-wire cables coming into the switch box, correct?

It's a 2-way switch; by "paddle" I just mean it's the decorator style. The switch has 2 screws plus ground.

The incoming wires are: power (2 wire) and two sets of 3 wire going to the fixtures (one set to each fixture, I believe). Thanks for your help.

You will have to go to the fixture to see what connections are there. The only reason for 3-wire going to the fixture would be that one (the white) is neutral, one (the red or the black) is the switch leg controlling the light and the third (red or black) is either unused or it goes on to power some other fixture. Right now we don't know if the third wire is used or how it is used.

Tell us the wires and connections at the fixture.

Don't understand the 4 wires of the dimmer switch, you are USA aren't you.

Howdy, there is no cable coming out of the 3rd (last) fixture in each series, so nothing else is fed downstream of this. The incoming black wire feeds the ballast; the white goes to the socket on one end of the bulb, and the red goes to the other.

Interestingly, they *did* actually use the dimming ballasts, which should have been OK with a dimmer switch, right??

I can post pictures of any of this if it will help. The 4th wire on the old dimmer (the yellow) ended-up being connected back into the red. I am lost with this dimmer, and why it needed 4 wires. It was the kind that you touch to turn it on and off, if that matters. Then it had the typical slider to adjust the brightness.

Yes, Omaha, NE. Nothing is easy with this house we bought, so why should this be any different? Thanks again.

Matthew

OK, here is some reading for you. Dimming Fluorescent Lamps (http://members.misty.com/don/f-dim.html).

Follow the link,

This way to their fluorescent dimming ballast info.
http://www.lutron.com/product_technical/fluorescent.htm

On that page in the upper right go to the link,

Fluorescent Dimming Systems Technical Guide,
http://www.lutron.com/ballast/techguide.asp

Scroll down and click on,

Appendix: Wiring Diagrams 17-22,
http://www.lutron.com/ballast/pdf/LutronBallastpg17-22.pdf

At the switch the black would be the incoming hot, the white would be the neutral for the switch light. The yellow (connected to the red, connected to the ballast) appears to be the switched hot for the ballast and the red (connected to the black, connected to the bulb) the dimable hot.

Have no idea why the fixture would no turn off completely unless the switch is defective. If you are going to replace the dimmer switch with a regular single pole switch, I would think you would pig tail the red and black together and connect to the switch. Logic says that should work, if it doesn't I think you will have to replace the dimable ballast with regular ballast.

Edit;

With an ohm meter, check which wire out of the switch is the switched hot and which is the dimable hot. This installation was obviously done by a homeowner. No electrician would have run two switch legs to the switch. He would have tied the two banks of lights together in the ceiling.

Thanks so much for your help! The red & black together worked fine. When “off,” the bulbs are now cool to the touch, as they should be. Am I correct to assume that with the bulbs’ slight glow and being warm to the touch was using a fair amount of wattage, over the course of a month or year?

Looks like we both learned some things about using dimmers with fluorescent lights; I know I sure did!

I agree that the better way to wire this is as you suggested. Interestingly, this is in the living room, and was wired professionally. Whether the master electrician gave this room to an apprentice to wire, who knows. The lighting is cove, and the only possible advantage to doing separate runs would be if some day, someone wanted to control each side of the room through separate switches.

If you are ever near Omaha, shoot me an e-mail—dinner is on me! Take care.

Thanks for the up date. Agree that if bulbs were warm they were consuming electricity. Yes, I learned something about dimming fluorescent. Seems to be a rather "iffy" thing. I see you logic about controlling lights independently.