Help Wiring A Ballast!

[UNV_Rasta]

Hey guys, bare with me. I bought a GE T8 2lamp electronic ballast to replace my T12 magnetic, and just needed some help with the wiring. Here's the diagram:

Q1: How do I connect it to the light switch which has 2 wires coming out from it? In my old setup, one wire from the light switch went to a tube socket and the other was joined to one of the 2 wires that go to the wall.

Q2:the wires that go from my fixture to the wall are both black, so can i just join the white and black wires coming out of the left of the new ballast to either one?

I found some sockets that only had two holes instead of four, and it looks like a shunt socket, but from what i've read, shunt sockets have an 'S' on them, this one doesn't. Here's a pic of how the shunts looks:

I should add that both holes of the socket are on the same side, and when i open it up, the copper leads from the one side where the holes to insert the wires are, are connected to the other side. Q3: Are these indeed shunted sockets, or I shouldn't take the chance and try to find regular sockets which have four holes? Since there is only 1 blue wire for each lamp socket (on the right side) coming out of the ballast, I was thinking my sockets made sense since the copper on both sides are joined, and I would just be able to put it in just like that, instead of having to split the blue wire.

Tried to explain everything as clearly as I can. I'd appreciate any help and be much willing to clarify anything that needs it when I come back home in the next 7 hours or so

 

[SuperColey1]

The 2 wires went a tube socket? Are you sure? It should have gone to a magnetic ballast at one end, the other then went to a starter to first tube to second starter to second tube and then back to ballast.

The new one should be pretty similar in that one end of the ballast has the inpuit power 2 points and the other many point with a little diagram of where to link the tubes to.

Not sure on the all black wires. Is that the casing or the actual wires inside? i.e. is it a black lead but inside that outer casing the wires have differenct colour casings.

The easiest way would be to take the whole of the old setup, power cord, ballast starters tube leads and reassemble it, test it to make sure it works and then remove the starters and ballast fom the circuit and then connect the wires that lead into and out of starters together and then replace the ballast following the lamp lead connector disagram printed on the ballast.

If you look at the righ of the ballast in thepicture below you can see the diagram I mean

Look at pictures 3 and 4 in this thread:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/265546-fixing-juwel-light-bar/

AC

 

[UNV_Rasta]

Yea that's the actual wires, both black. And you're right! 1 wire actually was from the starter in my old fixture to the socket (not 2 from the ballast to one socket). Got confused cuz the wire ran right behind my ballast, but it was really to my starter. So this was the old setup. Ballast had 2 wires(1 wire to tube socket 1, the other to one of the wires going to wall), Starter 2 wires (1 wire to each tube socket), and the last wire from the wall went to tube socket 2. That was my setup, gotta run. Will check back later. Thanks for the help as usual AC, I always catch u in the nick of time!

 

[OldMan47]

Your old fixture was wired up for a starter type arrangement so it is wired differently. The switch will be wired into the new ballast black lead. what you will end up with is a black coming from the power cord to the switch and a black from the other side of the switch to the ballast. The white will be wired directly to the white on the ballast. Each blue lead will go to both posts on one end of one tube and the other end will return using the red lead. Since you have 2 tubes, each will have its own blue lead but they will share the common red return lead. Don't forget to use the earth ground as is indicated on your wiring diagram. If I am reading it right, you are expected to ground the metal case of the new ballast.
I am assuming that you have redrawn the diagram that you found printed on the side of your new ballast for us to help you interpret it.

 

[UNV_Rasta]

Hey Oldman, yea I figured out the wiring thanks to an ancient post on APC. The white on the ballast goes to the switch, the black goes to the power cord, and then the switch is connected to the power cord. Yea I'm grounding the ballast's metal case to a piece of aluminum i've put on as a reflector. Thanks for the help.

I got the diagram off GE's site btw