just got my ballast, reflector, and light- not sure how to wire it

hi
i have a 400w lumitek 120v ballast, reflector, and light. as well, i have that part of the reflector that the light plugs into. i have a cord that goes from the ballast to that part of the reflector that the light plugs into. my confusion comes from the fact that the wiring coming out of the ballast to go into my light connection has 3 wires: a white, green, and black. but the light connection only has two: white and black. i assume green is ground? what do I do with this extra wire? the power cord that goes into the wall from the ballast is already grounded (has 3 pins), so do i still need to use the green ground wire or can i just tape it up?

sorry for the noob question! i just dont want to burn down my house

If the circuit is grounded then the other wire won't change anything if it is a grounder. Whether or not a cord that doesn't touch the ground or a socket is plugged in has no effect on grounding.

It could be because your ballast has only two wires but the distribution mechanism of the lighting part of the bulb has splits because it just needs to redirect the exact same current as the other lighting mechanisms of the light.

Does the light consist of more than one tupe shaped sturctures or have multiple parts in the light that shine bright?

First off, did it come with a diagram or is there one on the ballast ?

You'll be alright just using the white and the black and taping up the ground. You could also run the ground to the reflector to ground it.

If you want to post a picture so there isn't any confusion on what you are questioning that would be helpful but from my electrical experience you should be alright.

I just looked at my setup and that is how it is wired.

2 wires to the socket and ground wire to the reflector.

SelfSupplied said:

If the circuit is grounded then the other wire won't change anything if it is a grounder. Whether or not a cord that doesn't touch the ground or a socket is plugged in has no effect on grounding.

It could be because your ballast has only two wires but the distribution mechanism of the lighting part of the bulb has splits because it just needs to redirect the exact same current as the other lighting mechanisms of the light.

Does the light consist of more than one tupe shaped sturctures or have multiple parts in the light that shine bright?

Click to expand...

nonono my ballast has three wires, the light socket only has two. i will follow la9's advice and connect the ground somwhere to the reflector. my only question is that, if my reflector is hanging from the ceiling by plastic hooks, how can it be grounded? its not conducting to the ground anywhere?

-i talked to my electrician friend and he said to ground the wire to the ballast itself, and that would be safe. i dont understand how that works... but ill try

The power cord from the wall is grounded, it goes into the ballast and back out to the cord you were talking about, then to the reflector. So it is grounded from the wall, thru the ballast, to the reflector. Does that make sense ?

Ground is basically just an extra neutral wire, so if you lost the neutral the electric has a path back to ground instead of thru your body to ground. Just an extra safety precaution. Most electric boxes are metal and have the ground ran to them so if the hot breaks it will ground out on the case and cause the breaker to pop so that you have to look at it and fix it. Otherwise if the hot wire didn't short to ground, it wouldn't pop the breaker and probably start a fire if it was shorting out on something but had enough resistance not to pop the breaker. It's all setup to be safe. Hope this helps.

my electrician friend actually misunderstood me and told me to just connect the ground to the reflector, like you said. thanks for your info, appreciated

Glad to help, good luck on your grow !!!!!

Can anyone guide me on how to setup my compact maxibright 250w ballast to my reflector. Its my first time and i have no clue on what to do. The reflector only has one wire that connects to a power socket, and the ballast has two wires, one that also connects to a power socket but the other looks like a kettle plug with three small holes. what do i have to do ??