I too am far from an expert but trust me, wiring, is cake. Go to home depot and find the Handy Man in you Pocket(invaluable resource for anything DIY), or uglys guide to electrical,.... they're a quick read more of a reference really and damn, youll never need an electrician again. other then that remember these three rules,...
1. never plug anything in to check until youve made sure theres a good ground. if not, you run risk of A destroying your equipment or B catching 120v. i assure you neither are fun.
2. never let hot and neg cross,... short circuits are an unessicary danger if you just double check all connections for areas where there could be some contact youll never have to worry about it, unless theres a failure somewhere else I.E. inside the ballast.
3. I actually picked up this useful tip from wiring car audio systems. After you check and tape the connections, take some celophane or similar product and a blow dryer and srink wrap around the electrical tape. this pretty much garentees not only a tight and protected environment for the electricity but also holds the wires preventing them from being pulled out when the electrical tape, inevitably when in a high heat areas, gives up.
