I recently did a job and failed my inspection. I am asking if someone scan help me understand if it is correct. The job was a t8 to led retrofit that eliminated the ballast. Is it required to change the wiring in the existing fixture also. Because I failed due to the wire feeding one side of the fixture is yellow and not white or grey. Any clarification would be great. Thanks
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Retrofit wiring
- Thread starter Sparky326
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jeremysterling
Senior Member
- Location
- Austin, TX
IMO, the inspector should not have failed you for the color of your lampholder socket leads. Does the inspector also want #12 ran all the way to the tombstones as well? If you followed the instructions of the manufacturer's retrofit kit you should pass.
In a recent restaurant troffer LED retrofit I opened a box of four foot LED T8 120V tubes. I took note of the factory sticker that called out the left pin as "N" and the right pin as "L".
I instructed the apprentice to discard the existing shunted tombstones from the troffer socket rail. I told him to wire the new unshunted tombstones with #18 solid black and white harvested from the old instant start ballasts. I told him to go through the restaurant using the sticker as a guide to stab the black for L and white for N.
I followed behind him, lamping and stickering the belly pans. I opened the second box and was horrified to find the factory worker had affixed the L&N stickers upside down, therefore reversing the labelled "polarity."
I checked the instructions and the pins were labelled L1 and L2/N. I was NOT going to redo the apprentice's wiring to match the factory worker's impudence. The 50/50 chance of how the label was oriented on the tube really stuck in my craw.
I understand why the inspector wants the grounded conductor white, but I hope he chooses to be understanding about the color of your socket leads.
In a recent restaurant troffer LED retrofit I opened a box of four foot LED T8 120V tubes. I took note of the factory sticker that called out the left pin as "N" and the right pin as "L".
I instructed the apprentice to discard the existing shunted tombstones from the troffer socket rail. I told him to wire the new unshunted tombstones with #18 solid black and white harvested from the old instant start ballasts. I told him to go through the restaurant using the sticker as a guide to stab the black for L and white for N.
I followed behind him, lamping and stickering the belly pans. I opened the second box and was horrified to find the factory worker had affixed the L&N stickers upside down, therefore reversing the labelled "polarity."
I checked the instructions and the pins were labelled L1 and L2/N. I was NOT going to redo the apprentice's wiring to match the factory worker's impudence. The 50/50 chance of how the label was oriented on the tube really stuck in my craw.
I understand why the inspector wants the grounded conductor white, but I hope he chooses to be understanding about the color of your socket leads.
Voltage on the yellow ire? Is?
No on this particular fixture it was the neutral.
IMO, the inspector should not have failed you for the color of your lampholder socket leads. Does the inspector also want #12 ran all the way to the tombstones as well? If you followed the instructions of the manufacturer's retrofit kit you should pass.
In a recent restaurant troffer LED retrofit I opened a box of four foot LED T8 120V tubes. I took note of the factory sticker that called out the left pin as "N" and the right pin as "L".
I instructed the apprentice to discard the existing shunted tombstones from the troffer socket rail. I told him to wire the new unshunted tombstones with #18 solid black and white harvested from the old instant start ballasts. I told him to go through the restaurant using the sticker as a guide to stab the black for L and white for N.
I followed behind him, lamping and stickering the belly pans. I opened the second box and was horrified to find the factory worker had affixed the L&N stickers upside down, therefore reversing the labelled "polarity."
I checked the instructions and the pins were labelled L1 and L2/N. I was NOT going to redo the apprentice's wiring to match the factory worker's impudence. The 50/50 chance of how the label was oriented on the tube really stuck in my craw.
I understand why the inspector wants the grounded conductor white, but I hope he chooses to be understanding about the color of your socket leads.
Per my contract I wasn’t to change any wire and remove the ballast. Then use existing wire to complete. Is there anywhere in the code that would say that it is acceptable to do it this way. Also the factory wiring from the ballast to the tombstone uses blue and yellow on these fixtures. So I can’t see how they would pass code from the factory under his explanation.
jeremysterling
Senior Member
- Location
- Austin, TX
No on this particular fixture it was the neutral.
To pass your inspection, you should point out that the yellow wire is not the "neutral". The yellow wire is the luminaire's socket lead "L2". The yellow wire of the lampholder was terminated to the incoming grounded conductor. There is no screwshell on a tombstone.
These are GE led lamps. And they have a L and N on the lamp. Not L1 and L2. So he is saying that the N or neutral side of the lamp/tombstone is the grounded conductor or neutral. However this would mean rewiring every fixture completely with new wire. Which defeats the purpose of the retrofit.
MAC702
Senior Member
- Location
- Clark County, NV
Some of us might think that calling for permit/inspection was the first mistake...
jeremysterling
Senior Member
- Location
- Austin, TX
All right, let's try this. I have a troffer battery ballast I have to install. The battery ballast manufacturer has the grounded conductor (white) lead terminating to the belly pan mounted test switch. The test switch has two black leads. Does the inspector fail this? Does he want me to find a switch with two white leads? Can I use white tape? Or will he look at the manufacturer's wiring diagram?
I think your only hope is NEC 110.3(B) (2008NEC)
I think your only hope is NEC 110.3(B) (2008NEC)
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