1 switch 2 flourescent lights

[jethro7789]

I recently wired a room for 2 flourescent light fixtures. I wired them with 12/2 romex. I ran the wire from the breaker box, to the first light, then to the second, and finally to the switch. I connected all wires together,(black to black, and white to white) I turned on the power and 1 bulb lit up on each fixture with the light switch in the off position. When I flipped the switch to the on position, it tripped the breaker. What did I do wrong?

[John Nelson]

You made two mistakes:

(1) If you think about it, you'll realize that the switch, connected to both the white and the black, creates a dead short across the circuit when you turn it on. This isn't good.

(2) There isn't any way to make this work with your current cable without putting the lights in series (and they won't work in series). To fix this, you need 12/3 instead of 12/2 between the lights.

There are three main ways to fix this. If you have open walls and can reroute the cable, then it's better to take power from the breaker to the switch first, and from the switch to the first light and from the first light to the second light. This can be done entirely with 12/2 cable. The second approach is to replace the 12/2 between the two light fixtures with 12/3 and then remake all the connections at the lights. The third way is to remove the cable between the second light and the switch and run a 12/2 cable from the first light to the switch instead.

Tell us which one you prefer and we can provide details.

[jethro7789]

I like the idea of the switch getting power first. I have an outlet beside the switch, if I can get my power supply from there, that would be great. I just need to know how as best is possible. Thanks so very much.

[John Nelson]

If you run power to the switch first, then things are simple. At the switch, both black wires connect to the switch and the two white wires connect to each other. Then at the lights, wires connect by matching color as you already did.

Whether or not you can tap power from that receptacle depends on where the receptacle is and what else that circuit serves.

[jethro7789]

the lights are on their own circuit, I have 2 lights on it, mso I shouldn't have a problem. Thank you so much for your help. You have saved my behind.