Hi all,

I am installing a two bulb ceiling mounted fixture it uses two t12 bulbs. The problem is the ballast only has two wires white and black. The two wires coming out of the ceiling are white and black. No problem there. I hooked it up white to white and black to black---there was light for about 5 minutes. Then they go out. I got to looking and there is a green screw (obviously for ground) but no ground wire coming from ballast and not a "bare" or green wire included in packaging. So my question is what the heck? How do I ground this? Any help is greatly appreciated

Does the wiring method in your house have a ground?

There should be a metal box in the ceiling which should be grounded. If this is the case, run a wire (preferably green) from the green screw on the light fixture to the case of the box itself for a ground. If there is no box and you are hooking up wiring through the ceiling, you might want to back up & restart. The electrical junction box should have been mounted first. It is not included in any light fixture. You purchase & install that separately.

Yes there is a metal j box. But I didn't think running a wire from just the green screw would ground the ballast itself.

Provided there is a grounding method present (not guaranteed) running a wire form the box to the green screw WILL ground the ballast. The ballast is screwed to the fixture and so is the green screw.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stanfortyman

Does the wiring method in your house have a ground?

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The question is: Does the wiring include the third wire for ground? This is the wiring running through the ceiling. If the wiring is only two wires, then everything changes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bones252100

The question is: Does the wiring include the third wire for ground? This is the wiring running through the ceiling. If the wiring is only two wires, then everything changes.

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No, my question stands. A green or bare wire is not the only type of equipment ground.

About this fixture... is it a new fixture? Is it a magnetic or electronic ballast? Generally a fluorescent light has difficulty lighting without a good ground but once it's lit it stays lit. Sounds like a ballast issue rather than grounding issue.

Yes it is new and electronic. It came on fine, stayed on for 5 min and then went off. I think thermal protection cut it off. There is a green screw on the fixture itself but no green or bare wire included. I guess the thing to do is connect ground screw to j box and see if that remedies the situation.

I doubt it will. Are you using the correct bulb? If so and voltage is correct, I suspect you have a bad ballast. Trust me, it happens more than you would think. You do need the ground, however. Make that your first priority.

I do agree. The ground is not your problem. Sorry we got off topic there.

If it lights at all then the ground is not really an issue.

Electronic ballasts do not get very hot so the thermal idea may not be right either. Hard to say.

The only thing is every electronic ballast that I have seen go bad just dies. As in will not come on, at all.

I am installing a new fluorescent fixture with two bulbs, and cannot ground the ballast. There is a green ground wire attached at one end to the metal cover of the fixture, and the other end of the green wire is just loose. What do I connect it to? All I have coming out of the wall is a tube with a pair of black wires (connected to each other) and a pair of white wires (also connected to each other).

With only hot and neutral wires at the outlet box, and no equipment ground, you have no choise but to install a new cable with a grounding conductor to this fixture.