I want to wire 5 fluorescent lights in a series with the switch at the end--power coming from panel box or should put switch at the beginning

You can't wire them in series... what you mean to say is you are wiring them in parallel.

In series, the path of power would flow flow from one into the next, and the next with any interuption breaking the chain... beisdes the voltage drops would prevent it from working (each of the 5 fixtures would see only 1/5 of the line voltage). Think of Christmas tree lights as a good example of series wired lights.

How do I wire 5 fluorescent lights in parallel with the switch at the end

Ivan,

Good morning. A couple of questions, please.

1) Is this for a residential installation or a commercial installation?

2) What are the voltage and amperage requirements for these lights?

3) What is the source power for this installation, single phase or three phase?

4) Will this be on a dedicated circuit or is this to be added to one of the existing general lighting circuits?

5) What is the distance from the panel to the room for this connection?

6) Are you planning to do this work yourself? Are you qualified to do this work?

It would be FAR easier to have the feed at the switch.

To do it your way you would need to run 3-wire cable to every light and then a switch loop from the last light to the switch.

The black of the 3-wire would be your constant feed and the red would be your switched wire to the lights.

To keep it simple for you you could run the 3-wire as the switch loop, keeping the colors constant, and just capping off the white in the switch box.

Duplicate thread: https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/electrical-lighting/how-do-wire-5-flourescent-lights-parallel-wth-switch-end-467408.html

Duplicate thread: https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/electrical-lighting/how-do-wire-5-flourescent-lights-parallel-wth-switch-end-467408.html

Look at the time stamp... this thread was actually several hours before that one... and there was a third I had a mod pull as a duplicate before that linked thread was even posted which would have been three identical posts over several hours.

Look at the time stamp....this thread was actually several hours before that one....and there was a third I had a mod pull as a duplicate before that linked thread was even posted which would have been three identical posts over several hours.
Oops. Sorry, I didn't even check the time stamp. :o

Oops. Sorry, I didn't even check the time stamp. :o

Easy to miss... I want to know why he couldn't sit back and wait for an answer rather than post over and over.