Is it possible to rewire a double florescent kitchen light using the same wiring, to plug into a outlet?

Question

I have a florescent kitchen light thats connected with the typical white, black and uninsulated copper ground wire. I have a vacation timer i want to hook up to it, but you have to plug whatever you want to be timed into this vacation timer. Is it possible to cut the original wiring cable, and install a 3 pronged plug on the orignal cableso it will plug in and work?

Answer 1

Should be ok.. just make sure your timer can handle the watts required by the flourscent light. Also make sure you are wiring your timer BEFORE the lights ballast.

Oh! And make sure the power is switched off at the breaker!

Answer 2

Of course. Do it exactly like that except that you must open wherever it connects to the wall/ceiling circuit and carefully disconnect the wiring, safely sealing the live wires it had been connected to. (Just cutting them would leave live wiring exposed to your environment!) Then attach the plug and go. Watts divided by volts equals amps: even an old 160 watt fixture would only be an amp and a half, so you don't really need to worry about that. So long as you disconnect properly, the plug will be attached so the fixture can function properly. Cut them somewhere and it might be a mug's bet about whether all the components will get electricity... One thought would be to cut an extension cord (take off the female plug end and a couple feet of wire so it might be useful someday) and join the cut end to the fixture's wires. This is only good if the fixture has somewhere internal the spliced wiring can be stored safely. Some do, some do not. This way, you have the length of the extension cord to safely plug in rather than being tempted to do something unnatural with the timer or the fixture that could fall apart while you are gone and wreak havoc that no one will be there to fix until the firemen get there.