Need some assistance wiring my ballast

H

HighValleyWarrior

Member
I have bought a new ballast which is a bit different from my previous one.. it comes with a clip-on unit (ignitor and capacitor) that you attach to the ballast.. and then you insert wiring into the clip-on unit.

The confusing part for me is that there's only 3 pins going into the ballast from the clip-on unit.. but there's 4 inputs.. it says on the unit that I should put the mains L+N then N+ground to the lamp.. does the lamp only need 1 wire and why does it differ from the one I had before where I wired two cables (not ground) into the lamp..? I have a small choke as well but Im sure sure Im going to use it quite yet.. at least until I figure it out more. :P


 
ADTR

ADTR

Well-Known Member
I would just put it together as it tells you too. If something ends up being wrong with it then thats on the manufacturers lap...
 
brimon

brimon

Member
HighValleyWarrior said:
I have bought a new ballast which is a bit different from my previous one.. it comes with a clip-on unit (ignitor and capacitor) that you attach to the ballast.. and then you insert wiring into the clip-on unit.

The confusing part for me is that there's only 3 pins going into the ballast from the clip-on unit.. but there's 4 inputs.. it says on the unit that I should put the mains L+N then N+ground to the lamp.. does the lamp only need 1 wire and why does it differ from the one I had before where I wired two cables (not ground) into the lamp..? I have a small choke as well but Im sure sure Im going to use it quite yet.. at least until I figure it out more. :P


Click to expand...
Normally L=line/hot, which is the wire bringing power to the unit from the breaker and your N=nuetral/kinda like a ground but it carries used power out of the unit and back to the panel, hence a circuit. Your lamp will need two wire, what usually happens with some of these crazier ballast(likemine150 hps) is that you will have and extra nuetral for the ignitor and you will have an extra wire needing power, but there is always extra wire, this may be to wire higher voltages. for the best feedback take a pic of the wire scheme and post it, this a pretty helpful community and someone will help!
 
N

NEEDforWEED

Member
Your lamp will always need 2 wires(hot and neutral). the ballast itself requires additional wires, eg: ground to prevent electricution, an additional nuetral for any caps or starters, and possibly even extra "taps"(wires) for diffrent voltages. i am a master electrician, so if you can send me your diagram, i can help you wire it up saftely. safety is always your number one priority,lol.

warning: dont work on the ballast if its energized, it will shock you ALOT worse then the 120v that you are supplying it with. some ballasts outputs exceed 7000 volts!!

sorry for the typos.lol.
 
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