I just bought 2 T5HO light fixtures (ballasts built in if I'm not mistaken) but I'm not sure what to buy so I can plug them into a normal household socket. The plug end that is on the fixture has four holes.
You do have to hard wire that fixture that he linked to from Home Depot. But I must be honest I have never seen that type of connection that he shows in the picture. Usually its just two wires, black and white.
I'm an electrician and that connection is very common with the new fixtures. You just strip about 1/4 inch of the wire and shove it in the hole. Just make sure you line the white (neutral) with the white and the black (hot) with the black wire. There should be a 1/2 inch punched knock out on the side of the fixture, you can just get a 1/2" romex connector and screw it on (after you punch out the 1/2" hole). Put your wire through there and you have your cord. If you want you can just cut the female plug off an extinction cord and use that cord so you can just plug it in.
Ok, to start off get you a cheap extension cord. Start at the male end (part that plugs in the wall) and measure how long you want it, then add 2-3 feet. It's better to be a little long than an inch short. Cut the cord. Use razor knife or wire strippers to score the outer jacket of the cord, not to much, just about half way through the outer layer. You'll want to do this score about 1 foot back from where you made the cut. Fold the cord over where you scored it and roll that around, doing this so folding it basically finishes ripping the part you scored so it doesn't cut the 3 wires inside. Get a 1/2" romex connector and put it in the 1/2" hole in the fixture. You'll have to take a screwdriver and hammer and punch out the hole in the fixture. Put the cord through the connector long enough so the ends of the wires will not be tight but will fit into the fitting you have a pic of. Strip the last 1/4" of the wires (black and white) and just push them into their color on your fixture fitting. Don't worry about using the 4 holes, they are for in and out type wiring. Or if you want just cut that fitting off and wire nut them together, thats just as good. For the green wire, you should see a green screw just sitting out by itself. Usually about half way down the fixture. Strip the green wire back, I usually do about an inch. Wrap the part you stripped around the green screw (to the right). Tighten green screw. Put fixture cover back on and plug in. Hope this helps.
I'll check all this out when I get home. So basically I can remove the 4-hole plug at the end of the black and white wires?
What do you mean, "fold the cord" do you mean roll back the sleeve? or twist the sleeve till the sleeve tears off?
Yes, you can just cut the 4 hole plug off and wire nut the wires to the cord wires. By folding the cord I just bend it tight to itself in a U shape. It'll do the same as twisting the sleeve. It just depends on the type of extension cord you get. Basically just try not to cut the wires.
Upon closer inspect that 4 hole plug is actually just snapped on to a 2 hole plug. It says Luminaire Disconnect. Should I still chop off the 2 hole plug?
Yes you are fine with cutting the plug off. You will be perfectly fine just wire nutting the wires together. Those plugs are just for guys like me, say I have to come to that fixture in an office building and change the ballast. That plug is there so I can turn power off of just that one fixture without having to turn all the lights in the office off. There are 4 holes on one side of the plug so that power can come in AND out. They do this so the electrician can just send short whips from one fixture to another. Just cut it off and wire nut the white and black wires to your cord. It'll work just fine that way.
Alright. That makes sense. Im gonna kick myself for asking this, but how hard is it to wire the lights to a switch so I can turn it on and off rather than just unplugging it?
If you are going to have the lights on a timer, there is no point in installing a switch as well (unless you want the redundancy of being able to control it manually as well; of course, you could just pull the plug as well...)
If you want to install a switch, however, it is not much more difficult.
Really easy. Just take the black wire of the the cord->goes to one of the wires on switch (doesn't matter which switch wire). The other switch wire goes to the black on the light fixture.
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