series flourescent lighting

[kms0124]

I have installed two flourescent lights in series using 14/2 wire on a single switch. 15 amp breaker. When switch is turned on, one light is dimmer than the other. Circuit tester indicates more than enough power. Any ideas?
Thanks KMS

[suemarkp]

The term series is misleading. What I hope you did was diasy chain two light fixtures and wire them electrically in parallel. That is, each fixture's black should go to the power feed black, and each fixture's white should go to the power feed white (assuming 120V or 277V fixtures).

Can you measure the applied voltage to each ballast with everything connected and turned on? If so, what is it?

If everything seems correct, you may try wiring each fixture separately and see how bright it is. If each is bright when wired by itself, but dims with the second fixture is added, you've probably wired something wrong or made a poor connection.

If run individually and one fixture is dim, try swapping fluorescent tubes. If that doesn't work, suspect the ballast.

[mdshunk]

Ah-Ha! I do this myself accidentally sometimes. If these were new fixtures, and you had to clip the lampholders in the ends of the fixtures yourself, you may have gotten them backwards. Try swapping the lampholders in ONE END of the dim fixture and try it again. Should fix you up.