You are the only guy on the Internet who actually described the situation I have and offered a solution (the yellow wires in my fixture threw me off!). Thanks!
Juan DePascuale ...right? When I couldn’t find the solution and then had to read and teach myself I figured somebody should fix the situation. That somebody: me with my kid’s markers.
Like many other comments here, you saved me a trip to Home Depot thinking I had bought the wrong replacement ballast!!! I can confirm that these instructions ARE ACCURATE; the light does come on after following David's instructions! Thanks for the clear drawing and explanation!
Straight to the point!!! YES!YES!YES! Thank you for not taking hours to explain this. Short, DIRECT, and simple. Thank you. This is exactly what I needed. Thanks! 01/07/2024
Looked at 8 videos before I found yours. Yours exactly fit my situation of an old magnetic ballast replaced by a new electronic, rapid start ballast. Yours was the perfect tutorial.
I was about to bring my ballast back to the store thinking I bought the wrong one, but decided to do a quick search to see if anyone else had the same issue. This is exactly what I needed to get the job done. Thank you!
This was an awesome video.. you're the only who explained the "new" wiring pattern. I did it today in like 20 mins.. admittedly, not a handy guy but hero now!! Thx again!!
4 years after this video was made and it’s still very useful. Finally had to replace the ballast and we were confused as to why we’re were missing so many wires. Thank you for making this video and making it so easy to understand
Thanks for the video! Your video was the first hit on google when I searched for ballasts with the dual yellow, red, and blue wires. I followed your instructions exactly and had my new ballast working in about 5 minutes.
Lit! Loads of ‘wire to wire’ show & tells on UA-cam, but nothing like your excellent drawing. My situation was opposite, my new ballast had many wires & fixture just the 3, obviously applied your teaching in reverse. Thank you, saved me a lot of head scratching.
Would someone explain this in reverse please lol i have the same exact problem as Mr. Mike but I am so confused I can not make out the reverse solution. Thank you
🙌. Clear, concise and to the point. Replacing a neighbors ballast and bulbs. Opened up the fixture and found yellow wires. I ain’t got no yellow wires on the replacement ballast. This problem leaves me perplexed. Thanks to you and your down and dirty explanation, to my little old sweet lady neighbor, I look like I know what the hell I’m doing!!
Thanks you were a life saver. When your old ballast has 3 wires and your new one has 6 wires and the colors don't even match up it is just a LITTLE baffling. Your instructions worked like a champ.
Glad this little video keeps plugging along helping people. Thanks for the comment. It helps to give people confidence that the advice is relevant. I've only had one electrician in all of this time criticize the video and he appears to have removed his own comment. I did not remove it.
This simple drawing saved me hours of trying to compare the wiring diagrams of U shaped fluorescent fixtures to install a new ballast to use LED tubes! Spot on!
Right! I don't know why it's so difficult to get answers in normal English on this stuff. When I research some of these posted questions it's just as difficult each time. This isn't rocket science. Maybe there's just no industry standardization and it's all coming out of China with whatever colors they feel like wiring the tombstones inside a fixture. I don't know, will have to ask an electrician buddy at some point.
You sir, deserve a medal for this video. Thank you so much. I had a hunch about how to configure this when I opened the new ballast, but having it confirmed with your video just made my day. Thank you! 🙏🏽
Thank you so much for this video. We are in a mobile home and things always seem different than normal homes. As said by others below you were short, to the point and the repair was successful.
After reading more about ballasts than any layman should have to - Thank you so much for the video. When I called the store to say the "spaghetti" didn't match what the original had I was blown off with "read the directions. I did. They were utterly usless. I googled 2 red, 2 blue, 2 yellow, one white and one black ballast and TaDa! I found my solution! And yes it did work precisely as you said! THANK YOU!
Love it Dawn. I count myself as a reasonably intelligent member of Mensa and I still cannot figure out some of these online explanations. Okay the Mensa part isn’t true. But I do have a technical bachelor’s degree, amd read extensively in physics, quantum physics, cosmology and astronomy. It’s OVERLY complicating what should be a simple subject. I need to brush up on non Euclidean geometry and knot theory as well as topology mathematics to grasp ballast wiring. Lol!
Thanks for posting this. It helped me install a new ballast which didn't match my old one. I would have assumed I bought the wrong one if it hadn't been for this video. In my case, the new ballast was the one that had the yellow wires, but the same wiring applied.
So bizarre how these ballasts seem to be color coded as whatever the manufacturer feels like doing. That’s definitely why they have diagrams that are often confusing to non electricians.
Thank you for this! Exactly what I needed to convert my T12 light fixture to T8. FYI to others: I accidentally bought a ballast with three blue wires and one red wire. However, the label on the ballast says it is good to use for 2-bulb or 3-bulb light fixtures. So, I just capped the one "extra" blue wire with a wire nut and carefully folded it aside.
Thank you sooo much for this video! My dilemma was the opposite - I had a new magnetic ballast and an electronic fixture wiring...your video allowed me to reverse your steps and my light now works again!
Spot on David! Worked flawlessly on two installations in one day…. I knew the new ballasts would work but couldn’t figure it out… So I was thinking about buying new fixtures but you came to the rescue! Cheers!
Thank you so much for posting this. I thought I’d ordered the wrong replacement ballast until I found your video which was the exact solution I needed. Took about 10 minutes.
The lights in my garage went out a while back and I didn't know what to do with the yellow wires and the extra red wire. After watching your video I just changed out my ballast this morning. Thanks for your clear and concise explanation on the wiring. 👍🏻
Thank you, Mr. David W.! You are a GENIOUS! Your video was simple but quite effective. My problem was opposite of your drawing. The 4 wires were on the ballast instead of the fixture. I had my doubts, but in the video you said "trust me it will work". Indeed the light works. Thank you very much!
David, I wanted to say "Thank you so much!". Your video saved me when I didn't have a clue what to do. You saved me so much hassle. Thanks so much for your video.
Ken Lapp it shouldn’t be hard to find this answer...so I made a cheesy video, one that actually has helped some people. Score! Thanks for reaching out.
Thank you, sir. My old ballast also had a red and blue wire coming out the left side with yellow. Right side looked exactly as your diagram. I ignored the red and blue on the left side, connecting as your video showed. Works perfectly.
Thanks for your great video! I actually went to the store and bought a new fixture ("cheaper than an electrician"). When I got home and found your video, I hadn't opened the box yet and became intrigued when I saw the old ballast in your video was the EXACT one I encountered in my fixture. After looking at your video at least 20 times (I don't know if they count multiple views by the same person or not 🙂, I had enough confidence to proceed. When I actually got around to installing it (today). It worked PERFECTLY. Thanks again, SO much. there's one or two more around the house that need new ballasts, and now I can get them all fixed!!
Very nice. We’re all proud of you for taking on the challenge. And probably saving a few bucks. Eventually it may make sense to go LED but in the meantime a swap to electronic ballast is pretty inexpensive.
OK I may have bitten off more then I should have chewed with trying to replace old ballasts with new ones in our garage (I spent 5 hours looking at the diagram the same way a child looks at an advanced math book) but this video.... This video did more then all my previous Google searches combined! Thank you!
Thank you a whole lot. I was about to return the ballast for the lack of yellow wires but decided to check UA-cam. Your video was at the top as it should be. short, to the point and correct.
Thank you so much for this instructional video. The wiring diagram on the new ballast showed the red wire going to one end of the lights and a blue wire going to each light on the other end. So, I ran a blue wire from the ballast to each of the yellows and tied the 2 red and 2 blues from the other end of the light to the red wire on the new ballast. When I tested it, it didn't blow anything although it was wired incorrectly. Thank god! But only one of the 2 bulbs would light up. I could get either light to work, but never both at the same time. That's when I found your video and rewired it.
Thanks David! This cleared up the confusion regarding the yellow wires that my old ballast had. My fixture with the replacement ballast works perfectly.
Haha! Me too when “engineering” it based on reading. It wasn’t a fast process for me so figured I would pass along the solution. (I’ll add that nobody has ever come back to report any issues!)
Just one word - AWESOME! The only problem I had was reattaching the reflector, used ratchet straps to hold in place while screwing the bolts back. Thanks for the video.
Thank you so much worked perfectly replacing the 25+ year old ballast in my wife's bathroom with a new electronic one. So easy there is no reason for me not to do my bath, where the lights have been slow to turn on for several years, and hum.
Thank you this is the info l needed and to say l went to Lowes and the worker told most the customer who bought have no ideas how to do the connect the wiring the Ballast with fixture and it burnout and what l bought is the RS240P which is the same one you show in your video and the show old one is the same magnetic ballast that you show in your video
Great video! This is what I needed to know. On one end, I had a red wire attached to one socket that jumped to the other socket. On the other end, I had one blue wire going into each socket. I replaced the old T12 ballast with a new T8 ballast, but it had 2 reds, 2 blues, and 2 yellows. I could not for the life of me get the lights working properly, but I didn't wire them like you did in this video. I'll try it. Thanks!!
Got ‘done’ replacing my ballast and only one of the two lamps lit. Spent too long researching how to resolve it - until I found your video. Less than four minutes in, paused it and went and rewired things. Perfect. Thanks!
I bought a brand new 2 lamp F40T12 fluorescent rapid start ballast for my new house, and I wired it up the old way like how the old ballast was wired up and it worked 100% for me and the new ballast I wired up how it was on the old one has absolutely no problems at all a few days later.
Thank you! Just had to replace and old one with a new one and your simple explanation did the trick. My wiring was a bit different but it followed the basic gist and the lights work.
Thank you for the kind words. Did you try becoming inebriated with my non-verbal "umms" as a drinking game? I'll do better next repair, using a script. lol!
Great information - used your diagram while wiring to make sure all my connections were right. Success and I can once again see in a cavernous walk in closet!
Janice Cavolt hopefully mine was the first instruction you found. My search was painful. So much crap out there that didn’t have only what I needed. Lol!
Thanks so much for this video. Also, a tip for others: Don't be me. Mount the new ballast first, *then* cut the wires. My red wire was way too short, so I had to wire nut in an extra run of wire to connect the yellow wires to the red. The blue ones were a bit too short for comfort, too.
Do you have a video on doing an electronic ballast on an emergency light ,ya know the red capacitor type ballast mounted next to the new electronic ballast, either in 3 bulb or even a 2 bulb?
I don't, this was just a home repair I needed to make. I recommend extensive searching on UA-cam using various words. Also Google. Worst case see if you can chat up an electrician. Most websites I went to are virtually worthless unless they have your exact situation being discussed.
How about the ground wire that was attached to my old ballast? New one circuit diagram shows chassis is ground, but will the paint prevent effective grounding?
You can definitely look for a green or brass colored screw on your fixture and make sure it's connected to the conductor wires coming from the house. See if there's a ground coming out of the line from the house. Unless it's a really old home with a snakeskin or tar cloth looking stand in, the Romex (or equivalent brand) meeting code for today's standards will be two insulated conductors and a bare wire. That bare wire should go to the fixture as it needs to be grounded. Your ballast to ground, fixture to ground, ground found coming out of the house! The key is look for bare wire or green insulation rarely I think. Again....do research as I'm not an electrician and can't be responsible for exploding homes, or people for that matter.
What about a single bulb situation? I have a cradle for each end of one bulb, but each cradle has two wires coming out. Do I just attach both wires at one end to the red wire (my new ballast is similar to yours with red and blue wires) and both cradle wires at the other end to one of the blue wires, leaving the second blue wire unattached? Thanks!
100% absolutely: to meet code, avoid fire hazard, avoid electrocution. This is a ballast replacement video and assumes the fixture was properly installed originally. That would include ground from the building to the ground screw. Bare copper or green insulated from structure wiring to green or ground screw of fixture. Always ground a fixture. No exceptions. 😅
Awesome, David. Before I attempted the complicated re-wire with a replacement electronic ballast, I thought I would check the UA-cam -- and there you were with a great explanation and much simpler connection. The new ballast works perfectly (as promised)!
Thank you. What’s under the small piece of paper? I tried putting T8 40w 48” in a t12 40w 48” fixture and the bulbs would not light well. They buzzed and flickered. The fixture is 20 plus years old but does not have the old heavy ballast with starters. Should this have worked?
Haha. It’s my version of white out. I don’t think you can retrofit T8 into T12. Not sure how the ballasts are different but I’m certain the tombstones are…they can’t fit correctly to make contact on the terminals I’d think. Different sizes.
David W they do fit. They sell them that way. Supposed to be more efficient. I have done it in a bathroom fixture. These 48s just don't seem to light. I will see if I can get more detail on the ballast.
I have an old (40 years), flourescent fixture. It's a single bulb, 48" 40 Watt, T12, & the bulb flickers. The current ballast has 3 wires: 1 black, & 2 white. What kind of ballast do I buy, and how do I wire it. All the ballasts I am seeing for sale say electric ballast, and have more wires, some blue, some red, sometimes yellow wires too.Some say instant on, some say T8. Thanks, Matt
My problem is the opposite. 8 wires in the new ballast for a T5, 2 lamp fixture, replacing a ballast with 1W, 1B, 2R, 1Y and a ground. Am I right in joining the 2Y to 1Y, 2 Blues to 1R, 2 R to 1R and obviously W to W, Bl to Bl? Thanks for the video
I’m not clear what is there existing, in my head. Guess I could write out what you wrote. Seems like you have the common correct which is most important. So your new ballast and existing ballast both have yellow? Sounds that way. I do think the two yellow from your fixture would go to one yellow of new ballast. As for why your ballast has 1 blue and 2 red, that should be on the diagram as well as confirmation that the 1 yellow is in fact the common. It can get confusing. Clearly no rhyme or reason. I’d just hope that yellow to yellow is still the common.
It has been done by others on this thread I believe. The key here is to just look at how the tombstones are wired up. Some good information here, though it's definitely not comprehensive. www.electrical101.com/ballast-diagrams.html
I found a new electronic ballast with yellow, red and blue wires just like my older ballast. The difference I see is it’s rated for more amps and is rated for larger 40T12 bulbs whereas my ballast like the one in this video is labeled for smaller T8 bulbs.
You are the only guy on the Internet who actually described the situation I have and offered a solution (the yellow wires in my fixture threw me off!). Thanks!
Juan DePascuale ...right? When I couldn’t find the solution and then had to read and teach myself I figured somebody should fix the situation. That somebody: me with my kid’s markers.
@@Chinookman Nicely done.
Same same!
Same here!
Thank you for not taking 45 minutes to explain this. Short, sweet and simple. Thank you. This is exactly what i needed. Thanks!
Appreciate that. I too can't handle these 10 minute videos to get to the meat of the issue. Even my short little video could have been chopped.
@@Chinookman everyone explains the history of each wire. I don’t need that. I just want my lights to work again haha
Thanks for the explanation!
@@CarlosGarcia-wo3xf yeah or its 3 minutes of fancy graphics / hey look how slick i am / subscriibe!!
Like many other comments here, you saved me a trip to Home Depot thinking I had bought the wrong replacement ballast!!! I can confirm that these instructions ARE ACCURATE; the light does come on after following David's instructions! Thanks for the clear drawing and explanation!
Glad I could help! I've contributed at least 17 lbs of savings to carbon emissions with all these saved trips back to Lowe's and Hone Depot.
Ditto here! Saved me a trip and a headache. 😊 Worked perfectly (and confirmed with a similar vid, but yours is better!) Thank you, thank you!
Straight to the point!!! YES!YES!YES! Thank you for not taking hours to explain this. Short, DIRECT, and simple. Thank you. This is exactly what I needed. Thanks! 01/07/2024
Looked at 8 videos before I found yours. Yours exactly fit my situation of an old magnetic ballast replaced by a new electronic, rapid start ballast. Yours was the perfect tutorial.
That’s awesome. Glad you found it….eventually. 😂
I was about to bring my ballast back to the store thinking I bought the wrong one, but decided to do a quick search to see if anyone else had the same issue. This is exactly what I needed to get the job done. Thank you!
You are totally welcome! .....saving gas money and hassle one person at a time since last year. And 33 people still don't like it. lol!
“Down and dirty”…😂 the perfect video. Project completed (2 ballast 4 bulb fixture). Thanks so much Professor!
Glad I could help.
Finally, a UA-cam video that simply tells you how without an elaborate production. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.. Worked great !!
My pleasure.
This was an awesome video.. you're the only who explained the "new" wiring pattern. I did it today in like 20 mins.. admittedly, not a handy guy but hero now!! Thx again!!
Great to hear it helped you out. Thanks for the comment.
Perfect information that saved me a trip back to Home Depot for no reason. Thanks!
Awesome to hear. Thanks for the feedback.
This is EXACTLY what we're looking for!! Thank you for your direct, simple, complete, and brief explanation.
Glad this still had legs to help you! Thanks for the comment.
Just came on here to say thank you. As others have said, you were the only one that showed the wires that matched mine (the 2 yellow)
Thanks for letting me know. You’re welcome!
4 years after this video was made and it’s still very useful. Finally had to replace the ballast and we were confused as to why we’re were missing so many wires. Thank you for making this video and making it so easy to understand
Thanks for the video! Your video was the first hit on google when I searched for ballasts with the dual yellow, red, and blue wires. I followed your instructions exactly and had my new ballast working in about 5 minutes.
Now that’s efficiency. Thanks Google!
Simple and to the point - We had the new ballast on and working in a few minutes. Thanks
Thank you so much for the feedback. Guess this still comes up early in searches for this particular cluster*#%}.
Dude. I was sooo lost before I found this video. Even Home Depot couldn’t explain as well as you did. Thank you so much. You made my day.
So glad to hear. I hope the video shot to the top of your search for a quick answer.
Lit! Loads of ‘wire to wire’ show & tells on UA-cam, but nothing like your excellent drawing. My situation was opposite, my new ballast had many wires & fixture just the 3, obviously applied your teaching in reverse. Thank you, saved me a lot of head scratching.
I also keep searching for explanations when people post other scenarios and it's a mess. Glad mine was concise enough to help!
Would someone explain this in reverse please lol i have the same exact problem as Mr. Mike but I am so confused I can not make out the reverse solution. Thank you
🙌. Clear, concise and to the point. Replacing a neighbors ballast and bulbs. Opened up the fixture and found yellow wires. I ain’t got no yellow wires on the replacement ballast. This problem leaves me perplexed. Thanks to you and your down and dirty explanation, to my little old sweet lady neighbor, I look like I know what the hell I’m doing!!
Score! Now comes the brownie tray.
Thanks you were a life saver. When your old ballast has 3 wires and your new one has 6 wires and the colors don't even match up it is just a LITTLE baffling. Your instructions worked like a champ.
Glad this little video keeps plugging along helping people. Thanks for the comment. It helps to give people confidence that the advice is relevant. I've only had one electrician in all of this time criticize the video and he appears to have removed his own comment. I did not remove it.
This simple drawing saved me hours of trying to compare the wiring diagrams of U shaped fluorescent fixtures to install a new ballast to use LED tubes! Spot on!
Right! I don't know why it's so difficult to get answers in normal English on this stuff. When I research some of these posted questions it's just as difficult each time. This isn't rocket science. Maybe there's just no industry standardization and it's all coming out of China with whatever colors they feel like wiring the tombstones inside a fixture. I don't know, will have to ask an electrician buddy at some point.
You sir, deserve a medal for this video. Thank you so much. I had a hunch about how to configure this when I opened the new ballast, but having it confirmed with your video just made my day. Thank you! 🙏🏽
I just bought one yesterday and followed your steps. It worked great for this DIY guy. I appreciate the simple steps.
5 year old video helping me out today, good job my guy.
Shocking to me as well. Thanks for the comment.
Me too, just a few weeks later! Thank you!
I read your instructions in reverse to fix my problem.....kings to you sir.
Thank you so much for this video. We are in a mobile home and things always seem different than normal homes. As said by others below you were short, to the point and the repair was successful.
So glad it helped you out on this Super Bowl Sunday. People are shocked when they find out I’m not a very good electrician. 😅
After reading more about ballasts than any layman should have to - Thank you so much for the video. When I called the store to say the "spaghetti" didn't match what the original had I was blown off with "read the directions. I did. They were utterly usless. I googled 2 red, 2 blue, 2 yellow, one white and one black ballast and TaDa! I found my solution! And yes it did work precisely as you said! THANK YOU!
Love it Dawn. I count myself as a reasonably intelligent member of Mensa and I still cannot figure out some of these online explanations. Okay the Mensa part isn’t true. But I do have a technical bachelor’s degree, amd read extensively in physics, quantum physics, cosmology and astronomy. It’s OVERLY complicating what should be a simple subject. I need to brush up on non Euclidean geometry and knot theory as well as topology mathematics to grasp ballast wiring. Lol!
This is exactly the confirmation I needed to finish my project. Thank you so much.
So glad it helped you out. Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for posting this. It helped me install a new ballast which didn't match my old one. I would have assumed I bought the wrong one if it hadn't been for this video. In my case, the new ballast was the one that had the yellow wires, but the same wiring applied.
So bizarre how these ballasts seem to be color coded as whatever the manufacturer feels like doing. That’s definitely why they have diagrams that are often confusing to non electricians.
Thank you for this! Exactly what I needed to convert my T12 light fixture to T8.
FYI to others: I accidentally bought a ballast with three blue wires and one red wire. However, the label on the ballast says it is good to use for 2-bulb or 3-bulb light fixtures. So, I just capped the one "extra" blue wire with a wire nut and carefully folded it aside.
Thank you sooo much for this video! My dilemma was the opposite - I had a new magnetic ballast and an electronic fixture wiring...your video allowed me to reverse your steps and my light now works again!
Spot on David! Worked flawlessly on two installations in one day…. I knew the new ballasts would work but couldn’t figure it out… So I was thinking about buying new fixtures but you came to the rescue!
Cheers!
Glad it saved you some loot.
Thank you so much for posting this. I thought I’d ordered the wrong replacement ballast until I found your video which was the exact solution I needed. Took about 10 minutes.
Glad to hear it worked for you. Thank you for the comment. It helps give others the confidence to give it a whirl.
Man I just had to let you know how much you helped me today. Your video was simple, clear, and concise. Thanks you so much for uploading this. 🙏
Glad it helped!
Thank you very much for this video. I watched numerous videos and none of them were to the point and simple to understand. Danke Schön👍
The lights in my garage went out a while back and I didn't know what to do with the yellow wires and the extra red wire. After watching your video I just changed out my ballast this morning. Thanks for your clear and concise explanation on the wiring. 👍🏻
Great video. I was just about to return my ballast because I thought I bought the wrong one. Really helped me out.
Exactly...glad it helped!
Thank you, Mr. David W.! You are a GENIOUS! Your video was simple but quite effective. My problem was opposite of your drawing. The 4 wires were on the ballast instead of the fixture. I had my doubts, but in the video you said "trust me it will work". Indeed the light works. Thank you very much!
Those pesky electrons at it again with a rainbow of colorful wires.
David, I wanted to say "Thank you so much!". Your video saved me when I didn't have a clue what to do. You saved me so much hassle. Thanks so much for your video.
Ken Lapp it shouldn’t be hard to find this answer...so I made a cheesy video, one that actually has helped some people. Score! Thanks for reaching out.
Thanks, David! This was the only video that solved my situation. Short, concise and informative.
Glad another to do list item check off!
Thank you, sir. My old ballast also had a red and blue wire coming out the left side with yellow. Right side looked exactly as your diagram. I ignored the red and blue on the left side, connecting as your video showed. Works perfectly.
Thanks for your great video! I actually went to the store and bought a new fixture ("cheaper than an electrician"). When I got home and found your video, I hadn't opened the box yet and became intrigued when I saw the old ballast in your video was the EXACT one I encountered in my fixture. After looking at your video at least 20 times (I don't know if they count multiple views by the same person or not 🙂, I had enough confidence to proceed. When I actually got around to installing it (today). It worked PERFECTLY. Thanks again, SO much. there's one or two more around the house that need new ballasts, and now I can get them all fixed!!
Very nice. We’re all proud of you for taking on the challenge. And probably saving a few bucks. Eventually it may make sense to go LED but in the meantime a swap to electronic ballast is pretty inexpensive.
OK I may have bitten off more then I should have chewed with trying to replace old ballasts with new ones in our garage (I spent 5 hours looking at the diagram the same way a child looks at an advanced math book) but this video.... This video did more then all my previous Google searches combined! Thank you!
I hope it all worked out! Those wiring diagrams on the ballasts are for shit.
@@Chinookman it did work! I went back, wired as shown, and viola! We have light. Thanks again sir, you rock!
I was confused about the yellow wires from my old ballast and you explained things perfectly! It worked, thanks a bunch.
Another satisfied customer! Be sure to hit that thumbs up, subscribe and hit the bell for notifications. TOTALLY KIDDING. Glad it helped you out!
Thank you a whole lot. I was about to return the ballast for the lack of yellow wires but decided to check UA-cam. Your video was at the top as it should be. short, to the point and correct.
Great to hear I saved another few minutes of unnecessary hassle and effort!
Your video deserves more views than it has.
Simple and to the point information. Exactly what I needed.
Matthew Andraka Hey thanks. Stay safe. .
This little video still plugging away all these years later! You’re one of the early viewers.
I wish all help videos were this straight forward, worked great thank you
Excellent! I followed step by step and had the new ballast wired in no time - thanks for walking me through this. Exactly what I needed.
Thanks for the clear tutorial on the wiring. I almost went back to HD thinking I got the wrong type of ballast!
This is a great video and you cannot find this info anywhere. Saved me a lot of headaches and trips to the hardware store. Thanks!!
I hope you found the video quickly!
Thank you so much for this instructional video. The wiring diagram on the new ballast showed the red wire going to one end of the lights and a blue wire going to each light on the other end. So, I ran a blue wire from the ballast to each of the yellows and tied the 2 red and 2 blues from the other end of the light to the red wire on the new ballast. When I tested it, it didn't blow anything although it was wired incorrectly. Thank god! But only one of the 2 bulbs would light up. I could get either light to work, but never both at the same time. That's when I found your video and rewired it.
Thanks David! This cleared up the confusion regarding the yellow wires that my old ballast had. My fixture with the replacement ballast works perfectly.
Glad it helped!
Excellent video saved me from returning the New balance I purchased. It worked for me no problems now I'm able to install LED fluorescent lighting
So glad! And I hope you found the video fast. It’s climbing in search.
Perfect! THANK YOU! Wasn’t getting anywhere until I came across your video
Thanks for the comment. I hope you found this early in your searches. It's a mess in Google search for mismatched ballast wires.
This saved us from a return to the store. Thank you so much. Thumbs up.
Life saver, thank you for taking the time to show this wiring method on a video.
Glad it helped!
I Will be honest I was skeptical of this vid at first, but I have lights after using it! Thanks dude!!!
Haha! Me too when “engineering” it based on reading. It wasn’t a fast process for me so figured I would pass along the solution. (I’ll add that nobody has ever come back to report any issues!)
Very helpful. I don't think I would have gotten it done without this instruction.
Glad it worked.
Saved me a trip back to Lowe’s as I was sure I purchased the wrong thing! 👍🏾
Score! Like and follow for Part 2. “How to Diffuse a Nuclear Warhead”.
I went through several videos and this is the only one that made sense. My shop lights work now, thanks!
It could even be shorter in length, but hopefully you found it quickly. Thanks for the comment.
Thanks David.Your drawing is very clear to understand.
Worked perfect!!! Thank you so much for this lol I went into this project not having a clue. The sense of accomplishment rofl!!!!
Just one word - AWESOME! The only problem I had was reattaching the reflector, used ratchet straps to hold in place while screwing the bolts back. Thanks for the video.
Awesome! Back at you.
Thank you for this! Saved me another trip to the store. Going to install these today.
Excellent. Good luck with repairs.
Thanks for making it so easy even a senior could understand, I have light!!!
Glad it helped!
Thank you so much worked perfectly replacing the 25+ year old ballast in my wife's bathroom with a new electronic one. So easy there is no reason for me not to do my bath, where the lights have been slow to turn on for several years, and hum.
Glad it helped
Thanks very much. Great video. I was able to replace my ballast following your instructions.
Very glad to have helped you out!
Thank you this is the info l needed and to say l went to Lowes and the worker told most the customer who bought have no ideas how to do the connect the wiring the Ballast with fixture and it burnout and what l bought is the RS240P which is the same one you show in your video and the show old one is the same magnetic ballast that you show in your video
Awesome. Glad it helped you.
Great video! This is what I needed to know. On one end, I had a red wire attached to one socket that jumped to the other socket. On the other end, I had one blue wire going into each socket. I replaced the old T12 ballast with a new T8 ballast, but it had 2 reds, 2 blues, and 2 yellows. I could not for the life of me get the lights working properly, but I didn't wire them like you did in this video. I'll try it. Thanks!!
Excellent, update if it worked as your scenario is slightly different it sounds like based on a seemingly random (or duplicative) wires.
Got ‘done’ replacing my ballast and only one of the two lamps lit. Spent too long researching how to resolve it - until I found your video. Less than four minutes in, paused it and went and rewired things. Perfect. Thanks!
I had a similar experience so I tried to cut through the BS for people.
Love it! I followed the instruction and the lights are on now! This is amazing!!!
So glad it worked for you.
I bought a brand new 2 lamp F40T12 fluorescent rapid start ballast for my new house, and I wired it up the old way like how the old ballast was wired up and it worked 100% for me and the new ballast I wired up how it was on the old one has absolutely no problems at all a few days later.
Perfect video. I had 4 yellow wires but hooked them up per the ballast diagram and your instructions. Worked like a charm!
Hey glad to hear it all worked out well given the small difference. It’s the Wild West in ballast land.
Thank you! Just had to replace and old one with a new one and your simple explanation did the trick. My wiring was a bit different but it followed the basic gist and the lights work.
Thank you so much! I love that you made it clear with the picture and you were straight to the point.
Thank you for the kind words. Did you try becoming inebriated with my non-verbal "umms" as a drinking game? I'll do better next repair, using a script. lol!
This was super helpful and explained everything! I was able to change mine with your help! Thank you!
I’m so glad it helped you out! Thanks for the comment.
Thank You Thank You Thank you , you are a life saver especially this close to Christmas with house guests on the way
Thanks for taking the time to make the video. Spot in for my needs and straight forward. Thanks!!
Great information - used your diagram while wiring to make sure all my connections were right. Success and I can once again see in a cavernous walk in closet!
Janice Cavolt hopefully mine was the first instruction you found. My search was painful. So much crap out there that didn’t have only what I needed. Lol!
You rock! This is exactly what I needed to confirm. Nice and clear explanation. Thank you.
Thanks so much for this video. Also, a tip for others: Don't be me. Mount the new ballast first, *then* cut the wires.
My red wire was way too short, so I had to wire nut in an extra run of wire to connect the yellow wires to the red. The blue ones were a bit too short for comfort, too.
Short and to the point. Great stuff.
Thanks man!
Thank you. Clear, straight forward, and right on target! Good job!
Hope it helped, maybe even saved some gas money.
@@Chinookman Absolutely! Your diagram and step-through were easy. I would have taken me forever to figure it out.
Thank you, I couldn't find any other videos with this exact detail.
Just wanted to say thank you! Worked great for me!
Do you have a video on doing an electronic ballast on an emergency light ,ya know the red capacitor type ballast mounted next to the new electronic ballast, either in 3 bulb or even a 2 bulb?
I don't, this was just a home repair I needed to make. I recommend extensive searching on UA-cam using various words. Also Google. Worst case see if you can chat up an electrician. Most websites I went to are virtually worthless unless they have your exact situation being discussed.
@@Chinookman true enough. Thanks Dave 👍🏻
How about the ground wire that was attached to my old ballast? New one circuit diagram shows chassis is ground, but will the paint prevent effective grounding?
You can definitely look for a green or brass colored screw on your fixture and make sure it's connected to the conductor wires coming from the house. See if there's a ground coming out of the line from the house. Unless it's a really old home with a snakeskin or tar cloth looking stand in, the Romex (or equivalent brand) meeting code for today's standards will be two insulated conductors and a bare wire. That bare wire should go to the fixture as it needs to be grounded. Your ballast to ground, fixture to ground, ground found coming out of the house! The key is look for bare wire or green insulation rarely I think. Again....do research as I'm not an electrician and can't be responsible for exploding homes, or people for that matter.
@@Chinookman Thanks a lot.
David thank you for the video, you save me a lot of money using your instructions I did it my self in 20 minutes :)
Your video really helped me out in a bind here. Thank you so much for this.
Always glad to hear!
What about a single bulb situation? I have a cradle for each end of one bulb, but each cradle has two wires coming out. Do I just attach both wires at one end to the red wire (my new ballast is similar to yours with red and blue wires) and both cradle wires at the other end to one of the blue wires, leaving the second blue wire unattached? Thanks!
Yes cap the spare blue wire
Do you still have to ground to light fixture ?
100% absolutely: to meet code, avoid fire hazard, avoid electrocution. This is a ballast replacement video and assumes the fixture was properly installed originally. That would include ground from the building to the ground screw. Bare copper or green insulated from structure wiring to green or ground screw of fixture. Always ground a fixture. No exceptions. 😅
This worked flawlessly. I was going to return my ballast until I saw this.
Glad you found me…it…what have you and and that it helped!!
This was insanely helpful. Thank you
Thank you for your affirmation!
Awesome, David. Before I attempted the complicated re-wire with a replacement electronic ballast, I thought I would check the UA-cam -- and there you were with a great explanation and much simpler connection. The new ballast works perfectly (as promised)!
Spectacular!
Thank you. What’s under the small piece of paper? I tried putting T8 40w 48” in a t12 40w 48” fixture and the bulbs would not light well. They buzzed and flickered. The fixture is 20 plus years old but does not have the old heavy ballast with starters. Should this have worked?
Haha. It’s my version of white out. I don’t think you can retrofit T8 into T12. Not sure how the ballasts are different but I’m certain the tombstones are…they can’t fit correctly to make contact on the terminals I’d think. Different sizes.
David W they do fit. They sell them that way. Supposed to be more efficient. I have done it in a bathroom fixture. These 48s just don't seem to light. I will see if I can get more detail on the ballast.
I have an old (40 years), flourescent fixture. It's a single bulb, 48" 40 Watt, T12, & the bulb flickers.
The current ballast has 3 wires: 1 black, & 2 white. What kind of ballast do I buy, and how do I wire it.
All the ballasts I am seeing for sale say electric ballast, and have more wires, some blue, some red, sometimes yellow wires too.Some say instant on, some say T8.
Thanks, Matt
My problem is the opposite. 8 wires in the new ballast for a T5, 2 lamp fixture, replacing a ballast with 1W, 1B, 2R, 1Y and a ground.
Am I right in joining the 2Y to 1Y, 2 Blues to 1R, 2 R to 1R and obviously W to W, Bl to Bl? Thanks for the video
I’m not clear what is there existing, in my head. Guess I could write out what you wrote. Seems like you have the common correct which is most important. So your new ballast and existing ballast both have yellow? Sounds that way. I do think the two yellow from your fixture would go to one yellow of new ballast. As for why your ballast has 1 blue and 2 red, that should be on the diagram as well as confirmation that the 1 yellow is in fact the common. It can get confusing. Clearly no rhyme or reason. I’d just hope that yellow to yellow is still the common.
Thank you for this! Saved me another trip to store return!
Can this be done for the opposite situation? An eight wire ballast to a five wire fixture? I don’t see why not.
It has been done by others on this thread I believe. The key here is to just look at how the tombstones are wired up. Some good information here, though it's definitely not comprehensive. www.electrical101.com/ballast-diagrams.html
Thank you. That helped - couldn’t have done it without your direction
Thanks for the feedback! Glad it helped.
I found a new electronic ballast with yellow, red and blue wires just like my older ballast. The difference I see is it’s rated for more amps and is rated for larger 40T12 bulbs whereas my ballast like the one in this video is labeled for smaller T8 bulbs.