electricians chim in

Here lately i've been wanting to start my first grow, I didn't know what to choose when it came to lighting simply because there's a ton of options out there. Finally I ordered the quantum bad boy t5 fixture with 6 bulbs. Ill be growing out of a 20"x50" closet so the lamp its self will cover the whole area. Im thinking scrog would be perfect with just 2 pants. On to the questions, I was scrounging around in my fathers shop when I came across 8 Lithonia hi-tek 400w ballast. here are some pics I choose the 2 cleanest ones lol can't beat it for free right?




where the box says 277 volt does that mean i can't install a male end on the cord and plug into my 110v home outlet or would i have to use dryer/welder 220v plug-in? pic at very bottom is the end that WAS on the cord
-Thanks Allen

Adjusting local voltages for industrial and commercial heating and air conditioning systems and boosting 240V to 277V for lighting systems are also very common uses.

http://www.powertransformer.info/buckboosttransformers.htm


I just wrote a whole explanation for this question, but I deleted it when I tried to add the link to the product... aaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggggggg......

Quick explanation then...

ballasts that are 120v or 240v can be powered off you typical house panel... 277v cannot be provided without a transformer.... why?

because ballasts are hooked up with one hot (black) conductor connected to one conductor from the ballast, and the other conductor will hook up to either a neutral (white) for 120v or another hot conductor, typically red, in the 240v situation. The maximum voltage you can provide on one phase is 120v, adding the second phase from your house panel will add an additional 120v equalling 240v..

The lights you have found require 277v on the hot conductor and a neutral white conductor.. this voltage will only be found in commercial and industrial situations where the feed voltage is 600v.. which it is not in residential. To acheive the 277v on one black conductor, you will have to buy a transformer that will step up the power to get you 277v on one conductor..

it can be done, but it may be cheaper to buy a new light..

see if there is 240 or 120v taps on the light... to do that you will have to open up the ballast... follow the cord in.. the black wire will be hooked up to a wire coming off a transformer in the ballast... if there is other wires coming off the transformer that are not connected these wires you want to look at.. lights like that that are used for temp lighting come with three taps in the ballast, 120v (high amps ), 277v(med amps,) and 347v(low amps)... the light uses the same watts in the end but the higher the voltage allows more lights on one circuit, but it becomes more dangerous due to the higher voltage in the conductors.

i would pull them apart i have two very similar lights that came from an oilfeild application and although they were wired for either 240 or something above 400 they had the 120 tap inside the ballast case. but they had this marked on the tag on the ballast.