[samB23]

Hi all,
I'm new to the chat room, so please excuse any accidental breaches of etiquette

I just replaced my kitchen light fixture, from a fluorescent to a LED. I removed the ballast and connected the live and neutral directly to the new fixture. The new light works great, but some of my kitchen outlets no longer work. When I remove the new fixture, and reconnect the ballast (even without the bulb and the rest of the fixture) the outlets work.

Any ideas what's going on, and how to get the outlets working with the new fixture (no ballast)?

Thanks!

P.S. There were 4 (!) live wires in the ceiling box, 3 were bundled/capped together, and one providing output to the fixture. There were 4 neutral wire, all bundled/capped together, with one wire leading from cap to the fixture.

 

[rjniles]

You inadvertently opened a splice.

 

[Ultrarunner2017]

You inadvertently opened a splice.

That's what it sounds like to me.
By replacing the old fixture, you re-connected the splice.
When making splices with wirenuts, always be sure all the wires start out stripped to the same length, and the ends are lined up. Pre-twisting using a good electrician's plier would be a good idea.
After applying the nuts, give each wire a good tug, to make sure it is securely fastened.


Some like to use the push type wire connectors. These may be more secure than twist-on ones, especially for 4 wires.
Make sure you are using the correct size nut or connector.

 

[joed]

To be clear you are connecting the new fixture two power wires to the exact same place as the two power wires from the ballast.
If that is true then one of your connections is not tight.

 

[samB23]

Thanks everyone for the help!
I thought I'd reconnected everything as before, but as suggested, there's probably a loose connection somewhere. I'm guessing I didn't reattach all the neutrals together correctly. I'll get hold of a meter and take another look.