When the bulb works for a little while before it blows, does it seem unusually bright?

Have you measured the voltage in the light socket with the light switched on and with no bulb in the socket?

 

Well it seems really bright. And I have not measured the voltage

 

It looks like two wires per screw. Should have used pigtails but putting two wires under a screw even though wrong shouldn't cause the problem. Did you have two wires connected to each of the former fluorescent fixture power leads?

Tell us how the switch is wired..

 

Ray, sounds like he replaced the fluorescent tube with the bulb fixture, and now the bulb in the new fixture keeps blowing.

 

Yes. I read first post to quick. Will modify my first reply.

 

I have zero clue how it is wired. There are roughly 15 light fixtures in the garage with about 6 that are wired but have no light fixtures. There are about 10 light switches and its set up so that multiple lights turn on at once. I know at least 2 lights are hooked up to this light switch. There are 3 wires coming down with another 2 for continuing the circuit to another light.

Sorry if that’s confusing. I’ll rewrite it when I get home.

 

I was Thinking it might be a 220 volt for some reason. I know I have a 220 outlet.

 

So there are 8 light switches. And there are 14 lights wired and 5 that are wired but with no lights hooked up.

 

What color wires on the switch that controls the light you replaced? Please post a pictures of the switch box with the switches pulled out but still connected. Is this a commercial location. If so the fluorescent lights may be 240 as you guessed or even 277 volts. Simplest is to just measure the voltage with a multimeter, black to white.

 

I will have to take the switch off when I get home this afternoon. It is not a commercial building, the people that owned the house before us built the garage (2 car with plenty of extra work space, 27 by 32 feet) and they used it for car repair and had a welder. I know they did a cruddy job of building it because they did the foundation wrong so the foundation is split in a few places.

I have a multi meter but I do not know how to use it. I know how to wire things but I don't know AC and DC and what not. You don't have to give me a 5 star lesson on electricity but I prefer if you tell me how I can mesure the voltage in the light.

 

Also I know that it is supposed to be 2 wires wired to each screw but the wires led to something that wasn't wired up yet so I didn't mess with it.

 

Give us the make and model of your meter.

 

Allosun EM830 Digital multimeter

 

If the wires are from cables with switch on measurer to the black and white wires of a cable. Test each cable. Probe color not important for AC voltage. Either probe to black and the other probe to white.

 

 

You will need to find another source of power for your light or install a 240 volt light fixture.

 

 

A 240 volt bulb with the proper base size (medium screw base; E26 screw base) will work. At the very least you should label the light fixture as being 240 volts.

It looks to me that it would be very complicated to rewire the light to be 120 volts without also converting all of the other ceiling lights. In a 240 volt circuit it is not unusual for the two fixture wires (both are hot to a 240 volt light or appliance or load in the U.S.) to be black and white respectively. The white wire in this subcircuit really should be marked with a band or colored (not green) tape or stain at both ends.

To convert to 120 volts means to reconnect the white wires to neutral, converting all of the ceiling outlet boxes at the same time. Then any colored marks at the ends of the white wires should be removed.

 

For safety the shell of a screw base lamp holder should be connected to the grounded conductor. A 240v supply has no grounded conductor therefore under some circumstanses there is an increased chance of shock when changing the bulb.

 

It doesn’t have a grounding screw

 

I wasn't talking about a ground. I was talking about the neutral more correctly called the grounded conductor. No neutral on 240v to connect to the shell so if you are grounded and touch the threads of the light bulb while changing it you could get a shock.

 

LEDs light well in cold conditions. You could use a 240 volt LED fixture or reinstall the fluorescent fixture you removed and retrofit with LED bulbs rated for120v/240v/277v. Example: https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/d...-lumens-3500k/