Help!!!!

Hi everyone new here to the site, and I am hoping I can lean on a few of you for some help. I currently bought a 4ft 4 bulb t5 fixture, and its a direct wire. So I am looking to add a plug in instead as I did with my 4 ft 2 tube t5's. The problem I am having is the 4 bulb gives me 4 wires, a white a black a red and green. I have a three prong plug to attach and it gives me a black a white and a green. Well I know black to black, white to white, and green for ground, and what I have read is the red/and black should go with the black (hot) and white to white (nue) and green to green. The problem I have is that I cant get any of the lights to fire up. It is a brand new ballast, of course it could be defective, but before I take to exchange for a new one, I wanted to make sure that I had my wires done correctly, or if there is something that I am missing.

Black and red are both hots.. white is neutral, green is ground. Did you look at the schematics to determine if this is going to work?

No I didnt....I guess I just assumed beings I had no issues with the 2 bulb 4 ftrs, that I wouldnt have an issue adding a plug in to these as well...

Check the schematic and see if it's required, if it's not... just cap it off so you don't have hot -> ground or hot -> neutral and major issues

the schematic is what is located on the ballast itself right?

down2smoke said:

the schematic is what is located on the ballast itself right?

Click to expand...

There should be one on it, or inside the case.. and compare that to the schematic on the T5 you wish to add to see if it's possible. If you've never touched circuitry like this, or read schematics to determine if they'll work in harmony.. please get someone to assist you. It could mean the difference between melted wiring, setup, or a fire.

will do thanks for all the help