high bay temporary lights

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eastjmg7

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I was doing some demo, and took down high bay lights. i was going to put them in a new area of the building and checked the wiring and found it to be wired up 208v. Thats fine but the previous guy had just ran 2 wire and used the white as a hot. How was this light working?
 
eastjmg7 said:
I was doing some demo, and took down high bay lights. i was going to put them in a new area of the building and checked the wiring and found it to be wired up 208v. Thats fine but the previous guy had just ran 2 wire and used the white as a hot. How was this light working?
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maybe electricity is color blind....
 
eastjmg7 said:
I was doing some demo, and took down high bay lights. i was going to put them in a new area of the building and checked the wiring and found it to be wired up 208v. Thats fine but the previous guy had just ran 2 wire and used the white as a hot. How was this light working?
Click to expand...
Because 'white' is just a wire color. Whether it's hot or grounded depends on how it's hooked up.

Congrats. You just learned a lesson: Don't assume anything about a conductor based on its color.
 
after reading your post again, are you confused about it having a "white" wire for power and it working, or that it only has 2 wires going to it and working? if it needs 208 then all it needs to make the circuit is 2 wires, what exactly are you confused about?
 
My guess is he believes that, bceause one of the wires is white, that the fixture must be receiving only 120v.
 
LarryFine said:
My guess is he believes that, bceause one of the wires is white, that the fixture must be receiving only 120v.
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he does say that they used the white as hot, so im not sure what he is confused about.
 
ultramegabob said:
he does say that they used the white as hot, so im not sure what he is confused about.
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My guess would be he's looking at the common wire on the ballast which is white, but connected to one line or neutral, depending on the voltage supplied.
 
eastjmg7 said:
I was doing some demo, and took down high bay lights. i was going to put them in a new area of the building and checked the wiring and found it to be wired up 208v. Thats fine but the previous guy had just ran 2 wire and used the white as a hot. How was this light working?
Click to expand...
I would be very interested to know why you think it would not work. Are there some missing details that you could fill in?
 
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