I have five, 4' single bulb flourescent fixtures that I want to replace all on one circuit. They are old and have trouble keeping bulbs in place and I constantly replace bulbs. I have a drop ceiling and would like to replace with recessed lights, but I am worried the wattage would be too much for the circuit to handle. Has anyone experienced this repair before? Would I be better off just replacing the old flourescent fixtures with new ones?
2007-01-03 05:50:38 · 5 answers · asked by Matt L 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Do It Yourself (DIY)
Add up all the amps used by the items on that circuit and check the breaker or fuse to see if your close to the rating. If you don't know whats on a circuit you could just turn off the breaker or pull the fuse for that circuit and then check what goes out.
Secondly, You could put in recessed lighting and use the newer style flourescent bulbs. They have a wide array of designs now and would probably use less power than the old units.
Keep in mind, one thing leads to another, meaning the recessed lighting has to be mounted securely which may or may not be easily done. Replacing the old units with ones of the same style might be the easist way out. And they will probably be alot more efficeint anyway.
Good Luck !!!
2007-01-03 23:57:06 · answer #1 · answered by AlwaysLearning 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's most likely that there is a ballast above the ceiling adjacent to the fixture. Your best bet would be to replace the fixture with a new one if you wanted something with a standard base. However if you use an incandescent bulb you will be using more wattage than a fluorescent bulb would, no matter what base it has. There are fluorescent bulbs that have a standard base and do not need a ballast to run. These bulbs have the ballast built right onto the base.
2016-05-22 23:06:08 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The rule of thumb is that you can stick about 10-12 pieces of equipment on one general lighting circuit (15 amp circuit). Just keep in mind that includes wall outlets and whatever else may be on that circuit already.
2007-01-05 12:46:29 · answer #3 · answered by the4biddendonut 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
add up the wattage of the bulbs and the balasts devide by the voltage this will give you the circuit breaker ampherage which will tell you the circuit load
2007-01-03 07:37:39 · answer #4 · answered by aussie 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
flouro lights have tubes. you should be able to change for recessed lights OK
2007-01-03 22:50:24 · answer #5 · answered by John B 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋