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Help with Ballast Wiring

P@ssw0rd

P@ssw0rd

New Member
I bought a 1000 watt ballast kit recently and they sent it out all wired up and ready to go, all i need to do is wire in the power and lamp cords and i will be up and running. My question is, What gauge wire can i safely use for these? My past ballast wiring has only been with 400 watters and i have used 14 gauge extension cords without incident and i would think that a 14 gauge would be ok for the power cord but the lamp cord i don't know about. I couldn't get to the faq as i'm sure the answers i need would be there, Down? Thanks for your help

P@ssw0rd
 
BigBudBalls

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
I come up with about 10 amps (giving 10% for ballast overhead) add in a few extra amps for safety, so a cord that can do 12 amps should suffice.
12 gauge should be fine.
 
P@ssw0rd

P@ssw0rd

New Member
Thanks BBB Your input is most appreciated. I went looking through some of my retail catalogs and found that the retail sunleaves cordsets come in 2 varieties, a 15' 16 gauge and a 25' 14 gauge, I already have a 14 gauge cord ready to go and assuming that i keep the length under 25' i'm hoping that the 14 gauge will be sufficient. Please advise if this is a fire hazard or likely to cause a problem.

Thanks again
P@ssw0rd
 
BigBudBalls

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
Oh, sorry, I know its a bit late but.....

Temp will matter if its a ballast to socket. My 150W HPS measured 275F glass temp. Socket temp may be higher do to more mass/density. If the socket came with some pigtails, connect to the pigtails instead of going direct to socket terminals. Copper is a great conductor of heat too! Among the best.

*ALL* UL listed wire (only ones that should be used in the USA) are rated with voltage and temp (600V and 95C or 105C as typical) and marked on the wire.
 
thelastpirate

thelastpirate

Well-Known Member
P@ssw0rd said:
I bought a 1000 watt ballast kit recently and they sent it out all wired up and ready to go, all i need to do is wire in the power and lamp cords and i will be up and running. My question is, What gauge wire can i safely use for these? My past ballast wiring has only been with 400 watters and i have used 14 gauge extension cords without incident and i would think that a 14 gauge would be ok for the power cord but the lamp cord i don't know about. I couldn't get to the faq as i'm sure the answers i need would be there, Down? Thanks for your help

P@ssw0rd
Click to expand...
While I certainly am not advocating unsafe practices, you'll be fine with the 14. I am using 16 ga for my 400w lamps. They run 24/7 for 8-10 weeks, then 12/12 for 9-10 weeks. no probs.
I had actually bought 12 ga for my power wire and from the ballast to lamp. It was WAAYY too stiff. Hard raise and lower the lights and such. I then used 16ga extention cords until I found some really supple 14 ga.
 
P@ssw0rd

P@ssw0rd

New Member
Yeah i'm using 16 for my 400's and 14 for my 1k, So far no problems. I was fortunate that my socket indeed does have pigtails i used them but had to take the ground to the reflector itself, I had to connect it to the socket support but all reflectors are air cooled and i have had no problems yet and expect to be fine. Thanks for the help everybody.

P@ssw0rd
 
thelastpirate

thelastpirate

Well-Known Member
P@ssw0rd said:
Yeah i'm using 16 for my 400's and 14 for my 1k, So far no problems. I was fortunate that my socket indeed does have pigtails i used them but had to take the ground to the reflector itself, I had to connect it to the socket support but all reflectors are air cooled and i have had no problems yet and expect to be fine. Thanks for the help everybody.

P@ssw0rd
Click to expand...
All my lights are re-worked, modified commercial lights. When i separated the bulb mogul socket from the ballast, there was no provision to ground the reflector. The reflectors were not grounded from the factory. I have grabbed, knocked myself in the head etc with my reflectors, no shocks. not even a tingle. Do I REALLY NEED the reflectors to be grounded? If so, where would you ground it? To the ballast housing? Could be that since the reflector was attached to the housing, it was grounded that way. I aint trying to cause a stir, I really want to know.
 
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