Switching from Fluorescent to Halogen Track Lighting

thetallstewy

Hey all,

So I had these two ugly fluorescent fixtures. I removed both and tried installing halogen track lighting. Obviously it did not work and it shorted out.

http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fa...&storeId=10051

So the switch turns on both, but I only need to hook up one fixture. I tried hooking it up to where the first fixture used to be, so it has two positives, two negatives and one ground. I essentially did nothing with the second one, which only has one positive, one negative and one ground.

What I am doing wrong? Do I need to eliminate the circuit going to the where the second fixture used to be? Or maybe hook up the new fixture to it instead?

Thanks.

Jim Port

You will not need to connect the wiring going to where the second light was. What did you do with the unused connections?

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Answers based on the National Electrical Code. Local amendments may apply. Check with your local building officials.

thetallstewy

I capped the positive and negative on second light. Do I use a multimeter to figure out where the second circuit is? I.E, just touch red to positive and black to negative until I get a reading and the other two wires not being touched will be to the second light?

Jim Port

If you capped both the black and the white together you created a dead short.

At the first box separate the two blacks. Only one pair of white and black should have power. The cable without power goes to the second light.

In AC you do not have positives and negatives.

__________________
Answers based on the National Electrical Code. Local amendments may apply. Check with your local building officials.

thetallstewy

Sorry for the confusion, I did not cap them together, I just put a cap on each wire so that they wont touch.

I will eliminate the second circuit and see if that works.

ddawg16

Those Halogens are going to use 5x more electricity than your fluorescents did....have you tried it with just one bulb in it?

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thetallstewy

The multimeter wasnt reading like it was supposed to, but was able to isolate the circuits, then everytime I would push up the fixture to the mounting the bracket, the circuit was short everytime, but finally got everything working.

Looks great and I have 5 bulbs hooked up which is what the kit came with. Should I worry about anything blowing up?

Jim Port

I would make sure the previous problem still did not exist. If any insulation was compromised I would make sure it was fixed.

__________________
Answers based on the National Electrical Code. Local amendments may apply. Check with your local building officials.