I have a situation that I ran across several years ago that I would like your opinion on.

A single lamp 4' florescent fixture mounted on the outside of a building. This fixture has a remote ballast mounted on the inside of the building. The fixture itself was mounted on 24" stems of 3/4" GRC. The GRC was mounted to a base plate that was in turn mounted to the exterior of the building. The structure at the mounting was 3/4" plywood attached to the studs with stucco on top of the plywood. The plywood was drilled out to allow the fixture wires, in this case 3 conductor #14 SJOW, to run approximatly 8' from the remote ballast to the tombstone on the end of the fixture.

Looking at 400.7 I'm allowed to use this to hook up the fixture. under 400.8 Uses not Permitted it states "Unless specifically permitted under 400.7..."

The only one that I would have any question over would be (2) Where run through holes in walls..

Here is where I have a question with this. I'm specifically allowed to hook a fixture(luminiaire). In my opinion the way that the code is written ANY of the uses not permitted 400.8 do not apply.

You describe the installation very well.

My first question would be - is the fixture listed for use this way (remote ballast). Or, did someone just get creative?

My second question would be can the cord substitute for a permanent wiring method? You describe it going through a plywood "hole" when entering the building. Probably this would be a violation, but I have to see the documentation.

Do you have a manufacturer and model number so we can research a bit further?

Nick,

I can't remember any more of the information on the fixture itself but it was designed for use with the remote ballast, which didn't have any type of wiring coming off it for fixture leads. The Fixture had knuckles on the ends of them for wiring the tombstones which had a 3/4" NPT hub. It was designed to be mounted the way we mounted it with the GRC. I remember the installation instructions showing the GRC and then fixture wires running throught the GRC. Part of my question in this regard boils down to the wording 400.8 "Unless specifically permitted in 400.7..."

Several thing pop into my head on this. I believe going through the wall is like going through a ceiling. I say this because way back when I used to to service work and was called out to several stores where the fire dept. had busted them for cords through a wall (this may possibly be a NFPA 101 item).
Next, if the cord is coming off a ballast, there is the very real possibility that the current exceeds the voltage rating of the cord - SJOW is rated for 300volts. You would need to know the secondary voltage of the ballast.
Sounds like a creative engineering job...