Home Electrical Wiring?
 

Here's my plan:

Remove the two single bulb fixtures from the garage ceiling and replace with four 2 tube flourescent fixtures (2 for each garage bay). I want to hardwire these in so they still come one with the switch. I will probably need to run wiring across the ceiling to get them positioned where I want them and was planning on using grey plastic conduit.

My question: Is there any reason I shouldn't hook two fxitures up where one used to be (I'm going to come straight out of the original junction box with the leads for both new units. This is basic parallel wiring, and shouldn't overload the circuit, right?

Thnaks,
Steve

Steve,

You won't overload the circuit with 4 flourescent fixtures, but you might instead get 4 'old work' ceiling junction boxes from Home Depot that'll hang on brackets between the joists, and at least meet code. Find the one wire that comes from the existing switch, and go from box to box. Should be fine.

If your garage ceiling isn't cathedral, then there must be space above to fish wires through the rafters, gotta be easier than conduit on a ceiling?

I've done a lot of wiring if you get stuck, where are you located?

Keith

14-2
 

most likely, your garage wire is 14-2 gauge; you can see it printed on the wiring. (unless your house has 70's aluminum wire, or REAL OLD, then take a picture for us...)
The florescents won't overload the existing outlet.

But if you DO run new wire, you'd want to follow where the old wire went, and terminate it exactly where the old wires were. The reason why i say this, is because your garage lights are probably on a 3-way switch (2 or more light switches), and you don't want to try and re-figure how all those other wires go....don't make it complicated.
Just think of it as replacing one light fixture for another.
Black wire
White wire
ground wire (plain copper or green)

I'm in Bristow. I certainly could go up above the garage and do the job from above. This requires climbing up 11 feet into the ceiling and balancing on the rafters. I'm not crazy about this option, but it might be the way to go. I imagine it would certainly look neater.

safety first
 

that's good you can get up in the rafters!

it's not the height i gets scared of, it's how HARD the floor is when i hits it!

Wait for the weather to get cooler, so you won't roast! and tie yourself off with a safety line or a rope....you always wanted to take up rock climbing, and this is MUCH safer! (er, if the electricity is off)

And when your wife finds you dangling in the middle of the garage, from a rope you can say, "see honey, I'm ALWAYS playing it safe!"

If your house is "real old", please elaborate. Coming from Upstate NY, "real old" to me means over 150 years old, 'cause my 1880 VIctorian is just old to me:) I would love to see some tube and knob! BTW it's the best stuff going still, except for the lack of a ground wire. Aluminum, on the other hand is the worst. If you find it, get it out! Just a fire waiting to happen. Also I am a big fan of 12/2 over 14/2. Just my 2c. I do agree that your junction boxes can hadle it but I would go for a cleaner look. Have fun!

Tube and Knob or Post is fine until something falls against the exposed uninsulated wire or builds a nest and burns the house down!! One of my first shocks was from some T&P in my gramps attic. The house had been rewired except there. :shock:

If you have access to the celing from above an easy, low cost and low cost method is to install boxes and run the wire in the atic.

Find the breaker for the existing lights and note the amp rating of the breaker, if 15 amp you can use #14 awg wire. If 20 amp use #12 awg. most home wiring is done using romex. Romex is the plastic covered 2 or 3 conductor wire with a bare ground wire. You can use #12 on a #14 line but not the other way around.

An easy way to add things in a celing without many trips up and down the ladder. Take a foot long length of coat hanger, snip the end at an angle and drill it through the drywall where you want a light to be. Thump the celing to see if you are right on a stud first and move to one side ot the other as you want to be in clear drywall only. Poke the coat hangers through the drywall for each box needed. Then go up in the celing and lay the wire to where each box will be located using the coat hangers to see where. Staple the wire down but leave a foot extra at each box location.
There is a electrical box that has little arms on the sides that open up after you stick the box through a hole cut in the drywall. (The boxes come with a cutting guide and a box cutter with a new blade works well) Using them cut the holes for each box, pull the wire through the new and just big enough hole in the celing and then wire into the box. After the wire is mounted in the box install the box in the drywall and set the holding arms on the box. Don't put the box in first and then try to put the wire in the box! You will quite likely break the drywall and the box will be loose. Hang the fixture while you are there and wire it up to the new wiring.
This way you only go in the celing once and visit each fixture point twice total, one to poke the coat hanger and once to finish the install. If you are ionstalling a heavy fixture you can take some 2X4 with you and install in the celing while you are installing the wire. Tube lights normaly don't need to be stud mounted when you hang them with toggle bolts or dry wall augers.

Spend $ and get good fixtures and tubes. The inexpensive "shop lights" from the home centers just plain suck. They use more power, produce less light eat bulbs and sometimes don't light when it is cold.

I had planned to stay away from the "chain mount" kind @ $7.99/each (somehow I know I will break the bulbs). They had some other versions at HD (flush mount, supposedly rated to 20 degrees (I'm not going to work in the garage under those conditions!) ~$25/each

Can I not find adequate fixtures at Lowe's/Home Depot?

I suggest you install the tubs temporarily & try them out before hard wiring. Even after careful preconstruction consideration & consultation w/the builder & electrician I’m not totally satisfied w/my shops lighting. You can buy adapters that allow you to plug your new lights into the existing ceiling fixtures. That way you can move the lights around some before making your final location decision. Considerations include doors open & closed. You should also have 2 ceiling outlets for your garage door opener that are always hot for some other alternatives.

I don't bother with Home center lights at all. There might be good ones.

I like the 2 tube 8 foot HO (High Output) fixtures. They are the best light to $ ratio around and produce WAY more light than standard bulb/fixtures per bulb foot. They are availble in 120 volt, install and wire up the same.

A good 8 foot 2 tube fixture is about $45 at Rexal/Branch and is = to over 32 feet of regular tubes.