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Why are my self-installed flourecent light fixtures flickering all the time?

I have typical flourecent "office fixture" ceiling lights. I'm replacing them with simple wall mounted, DIY fixtures and am using 13w spiral flourecent lights. I wired the first one and tested it. Worked just fine. Then I ran my wires to the second fixture, put it all together and tested it. Now the two bulbs to a little disco dance back and forth for a few minutes before they warm up. What is causing this and how can I work around it? Will lower wattage bulbs do it? I plan on installing another 2 fixtures on the other side of the room. What can I do?? I don't think it's a wiring issue. Here's what I did: Electrical box -> black wire -> rat tail -> black wire -> fixture -> white wire -> rat tail -> black wire -> rat tail -> black wire -> fixture -> white wire -> rat tail -> white wire -> electrical box What these guys are saying about series/parallel is it, I think. Problem is, I don't know how to make the wire go "through" a fixture, so to speak. If I join the black wire from the wall to the black wire from the fixture, which black wire to I connect to the next fixture? Do I need to combine 3 wire together? So, the wires come out of the wall inbetween the two fixtures. I have the black wire from the wall and the two black wires from the fixtures together. I have the white wire from the wall and the white wire from the fixtures all bound together. And now the bulbs are working fine. BUT it seems like there should be a better way. I have 2 more fixtures I would like to insert into the circuit. Where/How would I place them??

Public Comments

  1. If I'm reading your wiring right you have the fixtures wired in series. that wont work. They need to be wired parallel. Black from box to black of first fixture then to black of second fixture.White from box to white on first fixture then white to the second fixture. that's it. have fun don't get lit up.
  2. There are many reasons that could be causing you this problem BUT the most common failure in American systems is they fail to put an earth to metal parts such as fluorescent lights and it is possible that the ballast cannot produce the striking due to this. I would do this simple test - if possible with dry hands touch one hand on the middle of the glass tube and the other on a metal surface such as a kitchen sink. If the lamp comes to life it is simply an earth wire required to each lamp. If this test did nothing then it is quite possible that your voltage is too low. This is possible if the connections are a little loose or the wires are long and/or too thin. Most Chinese products fall into both these possibilities. When doing electrical work it is most important to respect that it can kill or at least hurt you. Without tools, test equipment and training I would never attempt diagnostics.
  3. First check if 'bulb' is placed securely. We had a flourescent light in garage that flickered; it wasn't fully in its 'notch'.
  4. I got the same impression as Alan from reading your wiring connections. All the blacks should be connected together and all the whites connected together throughout the circuit. I'm not sure what a rat tail is. But no black should be connected to a white in your circuit. So black and white to the first fixture each connected to the black and white fixture wires and to the black and white wires going to the next fixture and so on to the other fixtures. Stop at the last fixture. And of course there will be a ground wire in the circuit to ground the fixtures. Edit: Yes you are correct in that on all the fixtures except the last one, you will have three black wires connected together, and three white wires connected together. Four if each fixture has 2 each. The connections are made in the required box behind the fixture.
  5. In the example you gave you have two black wires going to the first fixture,you should have a black and white to each fixture. the black is the hot side and the white is the common. The rat tail is the ground. If you run the wires in this manner you should not have a problem. No do not connect three wires together
  6. You wired the fixtures in series. I can prove it. Put a regular high wattage bulb in one socket. Notice how it lights, put the same bulb in a lamp that you didn't wire. Is it brighter? Then you phucked up. Wire all blacks together and all whites together. Did you fail science class?