Ok, so I'm not much of an electrician. I really try to avoid it, unless it's something theoretically simple, like putting a new switch in. So...here's the situation. I have a shed in my backyard. It's finished, insulated, ceiling fan, overhead lights, the whole nine yards. I've been here 4 years now, and things have been fine. The building has it's own circuit in the main box in the house, which runs to a sub panel in the shed. Recently, the switch controlling the lights stopped working. There are 4 lights, all lights are 4 bulb T12 fluorescents. The switch was some bizarre type I've never seen before. You bump it, it turns the lights on. Bump it again, they turn off. It appeared to be programmable, but I never needed it, so I didn't bother. I pulled the switch out, intending to put a regular switch on. There was a blue wire and a black wire coming out of the old switch. I cut them off the old switch, and then attached them to the new switch. Flipped the breaker back on, and all was well. Turned the switch on, the lights started to turn on....pop! There goes the breaker. I flipped the wires, and same result. The rest of the wiring looked ok. It's really crammed into the box, so I didn't pull it out. I'm thinking about pulling all the wiring out, and putting a new box in. This box is FULL. It's a small double gang box, and it has the wiring for the lights and ceiling fan, and it's crammed in there. Am I missing something obvious?
Guessing you shorted out some wires in the box. usually the bare ground wire gets touching another wire or terminal. Problem seems to be after the switch , (maybe the wire going up to the lights got shorted to ground ) (Hard to trouble shoot & not be there ) You should see arc marks from where it popped. New larger box is a goo idea.
Only two wires on the switch? Programmable I would expect more... Check for voltage between the two wires. If not, remove bulbs and test for continuity on each fixture-- one could have shorted out and be causing the problem. If still nothing, try changing bulbs.
If it hadn't been working, thought yo said the old switch worked intermittently, you may have a bad ballast . Turn off the breaker & sw. Unwire the lights, (you can leave the ground wire attached to the light) breaker on & throw the switch, if the breaker don't trip, wiring is ok. Then turn off the switch , hook them back up one at a time & test by turning the sw on. Sw off when hooking up the next light, then test again.
Thanks for the ideas. I'll work on it, and get back to you. Gonna be a few days till I get a chance to attack it during daylight hours though...stupid work
Changed a lot of ballasts and have never seen one short on the primary causing a breaker to trip(it's possible it went to ground) 4 paralleled T-12 fixtures(hopefully that's how they are wired) your black at the new switch should be wired to the gold colored terminal post(think black gold - oil) the blue could be what they had on hand(neutral) - remove the black wire from the middle fixture and work from there. Splitting the circuit is the easiest way to go
if there were a relevant(long term) team to give them designations that would be possible for everyone Black oil=gold "silver is white" - for some reason one of the Christmas Claymation movies comes into my head... This is all 120V stuff - I have a phase meter for the 480V brown/yellow/orange tape on all black leads
I'd still check all 4 ballasts first. In a system only 4 years old, unless it is a wire short, the ballasts are the only real working part getting hot, etc. If there was a defect, etc. I've had way too many sign ballasts turn out to be bad right from the box. It happens. I'd disconnect each fixture, one at a time, and turn on the power and check. You'll find it.
Stinny, I've lived here 4 years. I have no idea how old the building is. Somewhere between 4-17 years...does that change your thoughts at all?
Just means those ballasts have been working even longer? I'd just like to eliminate them first in a trouble shooting fest. Should be pretty easy too. Pop em open and unscrew the black wire nut.
provided the black is still wired to the hot from the switch(it was swapped in the first post) mithesaint remove the bulbs and squeeze the center metal cover off should be tabbed in place(they are pretty straight forward/sometimes a PITA) Unwire the hot(black we're assuming) from each light fixture and reinstall the wire nut on the black feeder
Easy to explain how to electrical troubleshoot to an electrician, but then an electrician don't need the help. He's in Ohio, I'm in Alaska. You guys are closer. To save confusion, I'll bow out.
Nothing yet. I need the combination of: 1. Actually being at home 2. Daylight 3. Wife to watch the kids while I practice swearing at electrical stuff. The combination of those three hasn't happened since the original post unfortunately. My boss was gone from work, so I've been working every hour we've been open and then some the past two weeks, now my wife is away at a continuing education seminar for the next 4 days, so it's not gonna happen till the middle of next week at best. Then of course there's the rest of the "to do" list that's building up, and I need to do some air sealing in the attic, and finish the storm door install, and put the new door on the shed, and...crap. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks to all those that suggested ideas. I was hoping it was something quick and easy that I overlooked, but the ground wires look fine to me so...time to start disassembling and testing.
"practice swearing at electrical stuff." ... that's the most important tool in the elec pouch right there...
