Those chain-hung fluorescent light fixtures

[Orrex]

I bought one to illuminate the darkest recesses of my basement. It works very nicely in the area where it's hanging, but it was kind of an impulse purchase, so I went with the plug-in variety. It has a five-foot cord with a three-prong plug, and for the most part this is fine. But if I want to add other fixtures, I feel that it won't be a very efficient use of my outlets.

Can these fixtures be converted so that they connect directly into the room's wiring, or is this a recipe for disaster? If so, I could add a bunch of them and turn the basement from a dank, dark, and forbidding cave into a dank, bright, and cheerful cave.


As always, your insights are much appreciated.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Yes, they can beconverted to hard wired, but if you buy more and want to hard wire them .........

..... get the hard wired kind.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

2. If you know anything about working with wire

and you have a light that works on a switch ,than you can add a florescent there and hook as many more as yer circuit can bear from that point in series. Or you can start yer series run from the shop light you already hung. It is better if you were to wire in a switch,that would mean you would run yer switch wire from yer plug to yer additional switch than to the light. Find out how much you are drawing on the circuit that feeds yer basement and than determine how much you can add.

Watts per bulb in total draw .

It's simple if you know how or have the desire to learn.
Get yerself a book on basic electricty fer that kind of project.House wiring projects fer home ownners or some such title. Those are called how to do it yerselfer books.

Home repair requires study'en the books ,do yer homework ,and it all works out. The truth is there are never really any fast answers,and stay away from trying to take short cuts when making home improvements. Ther's a saying in the trades, do it right or don't do it all. Yer home is also yer major investment.

Think in terms of upgrade, not just convenience.

[Orrex]

4. Well, two things

Now that I've bought the one fixture, I feel that I should stay with the same style.

Also, the hard-wired kind, at least the ones at my local Lowes, are substantially more expensive. Are they of equivalently better quality?

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

6. Shop lights are inexpensive

The only difference is the plug,which by the way used to cost more. A basic two bulb 4 foot shop light runs about 10 or 15 bucks. The ballasts will have much to do with cost difference. Electronic or magnetic. Yer electronic quick starts are more costly. When you remove the center cover you will find where the plug is wired in. All simple. The only difference between the hard wire and the plug in type is the plug. The wiring inside the fixture is exactly the same.In other words pre wired the exact same way. To plug or power, black wire /load /line ,white wire neutral/return and green/ground. The rest of those wires are to ballasts and light inserts.

You will find knock outs on both ends of yer shop lights fer wiring those lights up in series. That's fer running yer 12/2 with ground or 14/2 with ground from light to light in series.

Yer bulbs might be 23 watts per on the draw. That is very little compared to the standard 60 watt or more. As you know the fluorescent 23 watt puts out as much light as a 60 watt bulb. So cheaper to operate.

OK so, if you were to buy the type with the plug, to do the series hook up you simply remove the plug and replace with yer 12/2 or 14/2 with ground ,stringing yer insulated wire from light to light. For out of the wall wiring if yer were to go in code yer would buy the shielded wiring, or use conduit.

Adding a switch is fairly easy to do. From the terminals on the near by plug, if it's a end of a series run ,you use the non used screws . Gold power or black wire and silver screw white /neutral and ground to the bottom screw. To switch one side to power. You wire the black wire to one terminal .Ok, so stop there so you can run yer wire to the light. Two sepreate runs though connected. Than install yer wire from there to light fixture. At the light fixture in yer new junction box you have white black and ground. Running back to the switch you hook up the other black wire to the switch. Than you connect the two white wires ,using yer electrical twist caps. Red is the right color on the caps. You can buy a foot or so of ground wire with green insulation . What yer do is take yer lineman pliers and twist together the ground wires,the green ground to switch,than push the ground wire to the back of the junction box, Push yer white wires back and fasten yer switch in with the screws what come with the switch. The green wire is fer somebody that does not do much wiring. The object is to keep the ground wire from making contact with the terminals on the switch or plug.

a basic $15.00 how to book house wiring will demonstrate that or all that in step by step illustrated pictures and easy to read instructions.

It's like anything else you do, it is always better to know than it is to think that you know. Taking short cuts invites accidents.It's one thing to be thrifty, it is something very different to be cheap stupid.

Good luck with yer project ,and let there be light.

.

[Lars39]

3. We did this before we moved into the house we're renting now...

the basement had bare concrete walls and floor. We painted the floor a nice neutral color using special paint, then painted the walls white with a paint made for concrete blocks. Husband then ran 14 guage 2 ground through the joists, wiring in receptacles where we wanted the lights. We had a circuit with nothing on it, so he just put a plug on the end and we have it plugged into a power strip. We have the plug in lights so we can plug in only as many as we need. When they're all plugged in the basement is full of light...just makes a world of difference for what you can use the basement for then.

Disclaimer....I'm not an electrician, my husband was almost asleep when I asked him for details, and I've had a beer.:D

[Orrex]

5. My basement needs a good deal of work

But it seemed like a good idea to let there be light, if only to minimize the sense of working in a crypt. And not the good kind of crypt, either!

The wiring's pretty good down there, as it turns out--not GFCI, but grounded, at least. And the outlets are all about four feet off the ground. I've already wired four rooms in our house on two separate new circuits, so I'm reasonably confident of the process... Maybe I'll try what you've suggested!

Thanks to you and your sleepy husband for the input!

[Lars39]

7. We treat it as another room in our house...our house being not quite 1000sq ft,

we'll take what we can get. :)