Will this burn my house down?

I just successfully replaced a ballast on one of two fixtures connected to a single switch. The second fixture is not working but that may be cause one of the wires slipped while reconnecting the fixture. How urgent is slipped wire correction? Is it okay to turn on the switch with only one fixture working?

Man, is my husband going to be impressed when he gets home!

Thank you so much in advance!

 

I don't understand your terminology. By "successfully" do you mean you turned it on and it worked? And what do you mean by "slipped"? I can't answer your question without knowing. If there are any wires hanging out loose with bare ends don't flip the switch on - play it safe by leaving the breaker off.

Juice

 

Breaker off!!! The fixture for which I replaced the ballast did work but there is a second fixture that seems connected with this one and both turn on with the same switch. There are two sets of wires (black & white) coming from the box. When turned on there are no odors or sounds...

 

Ikelly, I still don't know what you mean. "There are two sets of wires (black & white) coming from the box", I don't understand the circuit as stated. Wires can go from the "box" (I assume you mean breaker box) to the first fixture in the circuit, then from that circuit to the next fixture. If so, what's the problem?

I don't exactly follow.

Juice

 

Please excuse me, I'm a novice! There are two fixtures in my kitchen and one needed a replacment ballast. The second one quit working when we unwired the first/main fixture. Now I've rewired the first which lit up but the second does not light. I guess I'm wondering if a fixture wire slips out of my three wires connected by one of those cap thingys (one set of three wires for black & one set of three wires for white) does that slipped fixture wire pose a danger. I guess I managed to successfully wire at least the main house wire to the replacement ballast since it lit up. Juicybaby...you're my friend! Thanks!

 

OK, the cap thingys are called "wirenuts". First thing you always want to do before replacing stuff is note very carefully what colored wires are connected where. I would say offhand that you have a group of blacks which connect both fixtures, a group of whites which also connect both fixtures, and a group of bare wires (sometimes optional, depends...) You say "slipped" and I think you mean hanging out of the wire nut with a bare end while you were installing the first ballast. If a wire slipped out and you're not sure where it goes here's a thought: you should have three black wires in a single wire nut, three whites, and three grounds which are bare or green. ( May be four grounds if the outlet box is metal...) One of each is from the "box", one goes to fixture #1, one goes to fixture #2. Which one is missing?

BTW, I don't remember the last time a woman called me "Juicybaby", felt pretty cool. Glad to be called your friend. (I'm not on the market, just sayin'...)

Juice

 

heh, heh! First, thank you for holding my hand.

Hubbypoo just came home (he's still scratching his head trying to figure how I put this darn thing up without four hands!) and he suggested I check the second non-working fixtures bulb connection. Oh yeah, twisted that baby around and wallah! WE HAVE LIGHT! (Big duh!)

But how in the world can anyone know that one of wires aren't loose in the wirenut (thankyou) connection when pushing all that stuff to the ceiling. There is a bit of a gap between the ceiling and fixture because the wires are below the metal bar instead of up in the fixture box. That is because I wasn't able to aim the screw to secure that bar with the fixture hanging in my face.

I know...I know...wish for a professional for my birthday!

 

Glad to hear the lights came on. Glad to have helped even though it sounds like you solved it yourself. Still think you're awesome for attacking a wiring job like this. Keep on rockin' - anything's possible.

Juicy