wiring troffer to 120v

[Eric Mims]

My garage shop has 5 flourescent fixtures (2 - 4' bulbs each) which are hard wired and provide decent lighting. We were about to give away eight 2x4' 4 bulb troffer fixtures from our office renovation but I thought I might see if I could use a couple in my shop. Is it possible to attach a plug and simply plug into 120v, of which I have 2 in the rafters (no ceiling..). Or do I need to hard wire it and if so. the best way.

thanks

[Jim O'Dell]

I don't see why yo couldn't attach an "extension" cord hard wired in. Maybe use the clamps for electrical boxes to hold the wire from pulling out of the troffer case. Just be sure to use wire nuts sized for the wire being used and not tape them. I say this because my work partner pulled a coffee pot warmer apart one day, bypassed the broken on/off switch and taped the connections. One Friday night that he was the last to leave, he forgot to unplug it and also left a partial pot of coffee on it. I came in the next morning to burned coffee. When I unplugged it and we took it apart to disable it so he wouldn't use it again, we found he taped the joints.....with masking tape!!! It's a wonder he didn't burn the building down! The tape was even scorched. Now I don't mean to imply that you would do something that......well.....of that cailber , but just a warning to use the twist nuts. Electrical tape after that if you must. Jim.

[David Klug]

Eric I have 5 lights like you do and I just plug them into outlets that are mounted on the rafters. Most of the outlets are tied into a swithch so I don't have to unplug them.

DK

[Eric Mims]

thanks, you should see how much electrical tape I put around my bandsaw extension plug after using butt connectors.. After thinking about it some more, I think I'm going to try splicing them straight in with the other lights. Like I said there are only 10 bulbs now so I should be able to add a few more.

thanks David. I remembered the outlets aren't actually on a switch since the original owner put them there for the garage door opener. So I'll try to hardwire and scrap the plug option for now. That circuit has a 15amp breaker and switch so it shouldn't be a problem.

[Roger Myers]

Open them up and look at the ballasts...older ballasts will be for a specific voltage..120, 220, 277, or 347(Canada)... ballasts from the last few years may be (not all are) universal input voltage and will say so...
Otherwise, no problems with your plan.
Roger

[Eric Mims]

quick update.. my joists are 24" on center, so the troffers were alittle too big to simply attach in between (below), so I sat them on top of the joists with just their long edges resting on the wood. . I had to remove the lens and door as the door wouldn't open because the joist covers it just slightly. No big deal, without the lens/door I can easily change bulbs. Hardwired them into the existing boxes and everything works great, though perhaps a little noisier than my 2 bulbs units.