Any electricians in the house please help, sun system ballast wont fire up ...

[redspaghetti]

Hi guys,

Running to a bit of a problem with my lighting system, one of my 1k ballast blew up last night ( i dont know why, it just make a loud pop and smoke came out ) so i guess that one go in the bin.

I went out the same day and pick up another 1k ballast ( sun system ) from CL, the guy said he works fine so i took his word for it because we have no where to test it.

Came home, plug it in and nothing .... no sound no fire up nothing at all, i called the guy and now he wont pick up the phone, left multiple msgs still nothing so i open up the ballast and i saw 1 orange wire just hanging in there by it self ( cut and not connect to anything )

I dont know much about electricity so can any one help me out please? what does that orange wire for? is there any way to fix this ????? or do i have to bring it to an electrician???

Please please help my girls are craving for lights right now because i only have a 250watts to replace this 1k ..

Here are the pics ..

 

[Harvest]

im sure this is a retarded comment but when i bought my ballast they were set on 240...make sure you got it on the right setting, if it can switch between 240 and 120.

 

[redspaghetti]

Hey harvest, thanks for the quick respond.

I tried to call the guy to find out if it was set on 240 or 120 but he does not pick up the phone anymore.

Is there any ways i can switch it myself or do i have to bring it to an electrician, my knowledge on electricity is very very very poor.

edit: how do i find out if its 240 setting or 120 ??

 

[imnotcrazy]

That Orange wire is the 120V leg if I am reading the wire label correctly...... Try to read the labeling on the Brown wire that is tied to the power cord, that will indicate what voltage the ballast is wired for.

That is a multi-tap (multi-voltage) style transformer. There is a Tap (wire) for each of the co-responding voltages the Ballast can be wired for. There is also a Common Wire labeled COM which is used for ALL VOLTAGES.

You need to wire the COM leg to Neutral leg of a 120Vac circuit. The incoming Hot 120Vac leg gets tied to the Orange wire, if it indeed is the 120Vac tap.

If wiring for another voltage, one of the hot legs is tied to the Tap labeled for the correct voltage the 2nd hot leg is wired to the COM Tap on the transformer.

PLEASE remember to cover all unused transformer taps w/ a wire cap like they have in there already OR a proper sized wire nut. The voltage you wire for will back feed out to any uncovered wiring and can cause a short circuit.

 

[Harvest]

but be sure, talk to the dude who sold it to you to make sure you dont fuck shit up.

 

[Sick]

Hello,

I'm a electrician..You have a multi-tab ballast that can run off of 120v,208v,240v, or 277v. look on the side of the wire and in small letters it will tell you what voltage wire it is. Looking at the pic it looks like it says its the 120 line. If your incomming power is 120v and not 240 or 277 then youll need to hook the power to that orange 120v wire.

Thats odd tho cause usley the 120v wire is black and the orange is 208v. But at anyrate the wires you need hooked up to the incomming power sorce are the com (Usley a white wire) the ground (green wire) and the 120v, 208v, 240v or 277v power wire depending on what your feed is. Just check the sides of each wire and it should say what it is.

 

[redspaghetti]

That Orange wire is the 120V leg if I am reading the wire label correctly...... Try to read the labeling on the Brown wire that is tied to the power cord, that will indicate what voltage the ballast is wired for.

That is a multi-tap (multi-voltage) style transformer. There is a Tap (wire) for each of the co-responding voltages the Ballast can be wired for. There is also a Common Wire labeled COM which is used for ALL VOLTAGES.

You need to wire the COM leg to Neutral leg of a 120Vac circuit. The incoming Hot 120Vac leg gets tied to the Orange wire, if it indeed is the 120Vac tap.

If wiring for another voltage, one of the hot legs is tied to the Tap labeled for the correct voltage the 2nd hot leg is wired to the COM Tap on the transformer.

PLEASE remember to cover all unused transformer taps w/ a wire cap like they have in there already OR a proper sized wire nut. The voltage you wire for will back feed out to any uncovered wiring and can cause a short circuit.

The brown wire said 240v and it is connect to the black wire
There are 2 white wires that said COM
There are another 2 white wires said CAP
The orange wire said 120 ( which wire do i connect the orange to? )

I took some more close up pictures, can you guide me how to switch it to 120v?

Please

 

[redspaghetti]

Hello,

I'm a electrician..You have a multi-tab ballast that can run off of 120v,208v,240v, or 277v. look on the side of the wire and in small letters it will tell you what voltage wire it is. Looking at the pic it looks like it says its the 120 line. If your incomming power is 120v and not 240 or 277 then youll need to hook the power to that orange 120v wire.

Thats odd tho cause usley the 120v wire is black and the orange is 208v. But at anyrate the wires you need hooked up to the incomming power sorce are the com (Usley a white wire) the ground (green wire) and the 120v, 208v, 240v or 277v power wire depending on what your feed is. Just check the sides of each wire and it should say what it is.

hey sick thanks for the quick respond

I checked the orange wire and it said 120v, it is not connected to any thing right now!

the brown wire said 240v and it is connect to the black wire to the power

Which one do i connect the orange wire to? which one do i have to disconnect before doing so?

 

[Sick]

hey sick thanks for the quick respond

I checked the orange wire and it said 120v, it is not connected to any thing right now!

the brown wire said 240v and it is connect to the black wire to the power

Which one do i connect the orange wire to? which one do i have to disconnect before doing so?

if your running 120v main power sorce then take the brown wire off the black wire and put the orange 120v wire onto that black.

 

[redspaghetti]

but be sure, talk to the dude who sold it to you to make sure you dont fuck shit up.

I kept on calling but no pick up, i left a few msg already.

thanks!

 

[redspaghetti]

if your running 120v main power sorce then take the brown wire off the black wire and put the orange 120v wire onto that black.

Is there any thing else i have to do beside that? i want to make sure i dont burn this one....

 

[Sick]

Just make sure you have the white com wires hooked up to your incomming white wire and that you have your green grounds hooked up and you should be all set after you swap them two wires.

 

[Harvest]

Sick sounds like he knows what he's doing. and from the pics, its a safe bet.

 

[Sick]

Sick sounds like he knows what he's doing. and from the pics, its a safe bet.

Thanks, tell that to my boss for me. Maybe the basterd will give me a raise,lol.

 

[imnotcrazy]

Like Sick said, move the incoming black lead to the orange wire, connecting them w/ a wire nut.

As I also said before, be sure to cover the now loose 240V wire with a wire nut or some other type of insulating device.

The rest of the ballast is already hooked up for you. The only other thing I'd suggest is to probably cut off the 240V plug and replace w/ a 120V plug from Home Depot OR completely replace that power cord with a 120V plug attached.

Once wired for 120Vac you don't want to mistakenly plug it into 240Vac.

 

[redspaghetti]

Did exactly what you said, connected the orange to black, green grounded and com connected to incoming white. testing in 20 sec

 

[redspaghetti]

wooooo hoooooo!!!! it fire right up and nothing blew!!


to all you guys ++++++

thank you soo much you guys made my day and saved my girls, i wish i could smoke you guys out with a big fatttttt blunt right now!!!

cheers,

 

[imnotcrazy]

Glad to have been some help man.. Just before you close everything up, be sure to remove the power and check all connections are secure and properly insulated

 

[redspaghetti]

^^ thank you sire, yes i checked all the wire and put a cap on the ones that does not have it.

cheers,

 

[Sick]

No problem, I'm happy it worked for you.